Total Student Loan Cost Calculator
Estimate how much you'll pay over the entire lifetime of your student loan and see if you'll repay it in full.
Thresholds and rates are the 2026-27 published figures, and the projection holds each plan's threshold flat through its announced freeze rather than growing it every year. To see the monthly deduction and the date your balance is written off next to that total, use the repayment and write-off calculator on the homepage.
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About Total Cost Calculation
This calculator estimates how much you'll repay over the loan's lifetime (including interest) and whether you clear it or see a write-off, using the repayment and interest rules published by GOV.UK[source].
Estimated average annual increase (applied each April).
Repayments start the April after you finish, so the write-off clock runs from April 2024.
Assumptions
Defaults to the rate your plan and salary are actually charged today (4.2%), recalculated as you change either. Real rates track RPI and, on Plan 2, your income band, so this is a forward-looking assumption you can change.
Threshold this year: £29,385 (frozen until April 2030). In the final year of the projection: £47,264. Write-off after 30 years from the April after graduation.
Outcome: written off
Wiped
£136,589 written off in Apr 2054
You repay £11,602 of a £45,000 balance before then — £60,589 of the write-off in today's money.
Your Lifetime Repayment Summary
Total repaid
£11,602
worth £7,684 in today's money
Amount written off
£136,589
worth £60,589 in today's money
Original loan amount
£45,000
Total interest charged
£103,191
at 4.2% a year
Write-off date
Apr 2054
30 years from April 2024
Repayment now (2026-27)
£4.61 a month
£55 a year
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £29,385) × 9% ÷ 12 = £4.61
Plan 2 (2012–2023), 2026-27 threshold, frozen until April 2030. This is what you repay each month at today's salary; the projection grows it by 2.0% a year.
How this is worked out
£136,589 ÷ 1.03 ^ 30 = £60,589
The written-off balance in today's money, deflated at the 3.0% price-inflation assumption. A pound cancelled 30 years out is not a pound today.
Rates, assumptions and sources
Every figure below is the 2026-27 published figure, read from this site's single source of truth at page-render time[source]. The 6% Plan 2 and Postgraduate interest cap covers the 2026/27 year only and is not assumed to continue[source].
| Plan | Threshold | Rate | Interest | Written off | Threshold freeze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 2 | £29,385[source] | 9% | 4.1% to 7.1% by income, capped at 6% for 2026-27[source] | 30 years[source] | Frozen at £29,385 until April 2030 |
Write-off is counted from the April after the course ends, not from the course-end date itself, and the Plan 2 interest bands (£29,385 lower, £52,885 upper) are frozen alongside the Plan 2 repayment threshold.
This calculator also assumes
- Salary growth
- 2.0% a year (your input)
- Interest rate
- 4.2% (modelled from your plan and salary)
- Threshold uprating once a freeze ends
- 2.0% a year (assumption)
- Price inflation for today's-money figures
- 3.0% a year (assumption)
- Repayments start
- April 2024
- Write-off
- Apr 2054
Growth, inflation and long-run interest figures are assumptions, not published rates. Change them and the projection changes.
Related Calculators
How Much Will Your Student Loan Really Cost?
This calculator helps you understand the total lifetime cost of your UK student loan. UK loans are income-contingent with automatic write-offs, so many borrowers never repay the full amount.
Know when your loan will be written off?
Check our write-off calculator to see your automatic cancellation date.
Check Your Write-Off DateNext step
- See when your loan is written offEnter your plan and course end year to get the month your balance is cancelled.
- Current interest rates for each planShows the current rate for each plan and how it is set.
- Which student loan plan you are onYour plan sets your threshold, interest and write-off date.
- When overpaying helps and when it does notSets out when overpaying helps and when it does not.
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