Student Loan Calculator – Should You Overpay?

Student Loan Calculator — What You’ll Actually Repay, UK & US

Written by Hamid Ali, MSc Accounting & Finance, ACCA (in progress) · Founder of DebtShift · Updated July 2026

The number on your student loan statement looks enormous. What it actually costs you each month, this year, on your real income — nobody shows you that clearly, and the UK and US systems work so differently that generic advice from either side of the Atlantic is often just wrong for the other.

This calculator handles both systems properly — UK income-contingent plans and US federal repayment plans, including the ones that changed completely this week.

What This Calculator Actually Does

Select UK or US, then your specific plan — Plan 1, 2, 4, 5, or Postgraduate in the UK, or Standard, IBR, or the new RAP in the US — and enter your income. It shows your monthly deduction now, how that changes as your income grows, and, where relevant, whether you’ll actually clear the balance before it’s written off or forgiven.

Who This Is For

UK graduates who’ve never worked out which of the five plans they’re actually on, or whether it’s even worth overpaying. US borrowers trying to make sense of a system that changed completely as of yesterday — SAVE is gone, RAP just launched, and most guidance written before July 2026 is already out of date.

How to Use It — UK

Select your plan (check your Student Loans Company account or payslip if you’re not sure — Plan 2 covers most English/Welsh graduates from 2012–2023, Plan 5 covers anyone starting from August 2023 onward). Enter your gross annual income. The calculator applies 9% to whatever sits above your plan’s threshold — nothing on income below it, however much you owe overall.

How to Use It — US

Select whether your loans were disbursed before or after 1 July 2026 — this single date now determines which plans you can even access. Enter your Adjusted Gross Income and household size if you’re comparing RAP, since RAP payments scale with both.

UK — The Five Plans, 2026/27 Thresholds

You only repay 9% of income above your threshold — nothing below it, and the loan behaves more like a graduate tax than conventional debt, since it’s tied to your earnings, not a fixed monthly bill.

• Plan 1 — £26,900 threshold, written off after 25 years or age 65
• Plan 2 — £29,385 threshold (frozen until 2030), written off after 30 years, highest interest of any plan (RPI + up to 3%, capped at 6% from September 2026)
• Plan 4 (Scotland) — £33,795 threshold, highest of any plan, written off after 30 years or age 65
• Plan 5 — £25,000 threshold, the lowest starting point, written off after 40 years — the longest window of any plan, introduced for students starting from 2023
• Postgraduate Loan — £21,000 threshold, 6% rate, written off after 30 years

The detail almost nobody explains clearly: UK student loans don’t appear on your credit file at all. Missing an assessment, having a large balance, none of it affects Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. But it does affect mortgage affordability — lenders ask about your monthly deduction directly, and it can reduce how much you’re able to borrow.

US — What Actually Changed on 1 July 2026

The SAVE plan is dead. A federal court entered judgment in March 2026 ending it as part of a legal settlement, and anyone still enrolled is being moved to a different plan over the following 90 days.

For any loan taken out from 1 July 2026 onward, the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is now the only income-driven option available. It charges 1% to 10% of your Adjusted Gross Income, with a $10/month minimum if you earn under $10,000 a year — there’s no $0 payment possible under RAP, unlike the plans it’s replacing. It subtracts $50 per dependent from your bill, cancels any interest your payment doesn’t cover, and forgives any remaining balance after 30 years — a longer wait than the 20–25 years most older plans offered.

If your loans were disbursed before 1 July 2026, you’re not forced onto RAP yet. You can keep using the Standard, Graduated, or Extended plans, or IBR, until at least 2028 — though PAYE and ICR are being phased out by July 2028 regardless. IBR itself only remains open to loans taken out before the July 2026 cutoff; it’s closed to anything borrowed after.

PSLF Still Exists

Public Service Loan Forgiveness survived this overhaul intact — 120 qualifying payments (10 years) while working full-time for a government or qualifying nonprofit employer still forgives the remaining balance, tax-free. But the plan you’re on matters for the maths: a 10-year Standard Plan can mean you finish paying before you even qualify for forgiveness, while RAP’s 30-year window means PSLF could genuinely save you two decades of payments if you qualify.

Parent PLUS Borrowers — Read This Before 1 July 2026 Deadlines

Parent PLUS loans aren’t eligible for RAP at all. If you want any income-driven option going forward, you need to consolidate into a Direct Consolidation Loan and enrol in a qualifying plan before the cutoff dates — the government recommended submitting consolidation applications by 1 April 2026 to be processed in time. If that window’s passed for you, talk to your loan servicer directly about what’s still available.

A Real Example

UK: A Plan 2 graduate earning £35,000 pays 9% of £5,615 (the amount above the £29,385 threshold) — £505 a year, about £42 a month. The IFS estimates only around a quarter of Plan 2 borrowers will fully repay before the 30-year write-off, so for most people in this position, the loan functions as a long-term percentage of income rather than debt that gets paid down and cleared.

US: A borrower on RAP earning $55,000 AGI with one dependent pays roughly 1-10% scaled to their income tier, minus $50 for the dependent — the exact figure depends on where their AGI sits within RAP’s tiered structure, which is why running your specific numbers through the calculator matters more than a single example can capture.

Related Tools

If student debt is one part of a bigger picture, the AI Debt Payoff Planner factors it in alongside everything else you owe. UK graduates weighing whether to overpay should also check the Debt Consolidation Calculator before redirecting money toward a loan that might be written off anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a UK student loan affect my credit score?
No. UK student loans never appear on your credit file, regardless of balance or plan. They do affect mortgage affordability assessments directly, since lenders factor in your monthly deduction, but that’s separate from your credit score itself.

Is the SAVE plan really gone in the US?
Yes, as of March 2026, following a federal court judgment settling litigation brought by Missouri and other states. Anyone still enrolled is being transitioned to a different plan, with notices going out and a roughly 90-day window to choose starting around 1 July 2026.

Should I overpay my UK student loan?
Usually not, unless projections show you’ll repay in full well before the write-off date anyway — most commonly Plan 1 borrowers or high earners on a smaller balance. For the majority of Plan 2 and Plan 5 borrowers, extra payments simply hand over money that would have been written off for free.

What’s the difference between RAP and the old income-driven plans?
RAP never allows a $0 payment (older plans could), takes 30 years to reach forgiveness instead of 20–25, but does cancel unpaid interest and gives a $50/month reduction per dependent. It’s the only income-driven option for anything borrowed from 1 July 2026 onward.

Is forgiven US student loan debt taxable?
Yes, as of 1 January 2026. The temporary tax exemption on forgiven federal student loan debt expired at the end of 2025, so any balance forgiven under an income-driven plan going forward is treated as taxable income in the year it’s cancelled.

DebtShift is an educational platform — not a debt management firm or financial adviser. UK users seeking free debt help visit StepChange.org. US users visit NFCC.org.