How Much Student Loan Do I Owe? — How to Check Your Balance

Why You Should Know Your Student Loan Balance

Many graduates leave university without a clear picture of how much they owe. Some deliberately avoid checking, treating the loan as a "graduate tax" that comes out of their salary automatically. While that approach is understandable — repayments are indeed automatic through PAYE — there are good reasons to stay informed about your balance. Knowing your balance helps you make smarter decisions about voluntary overpayments, plan for major purchases like a home (lenders factor student loan repayments into mortgage affordability calculations), and ensure the Student Loans Company (SLC) has not made errors on your account.

How to Check Your Student Loan Balance Online

The quickest and most straightforward way to check your balance is through the SLC's online repayment service. Here is the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Go to the SLC Repayment Website

Navigate to repayment.slc.co.uk in your web browser. This is the official Student Loans Company repayment portal, separate from the student finance application site you may have used while applying for funding. Bookmark this page for future reference — you will want to check back periodically.

Step 2: Log In or Create an Account

If you already have an online repayment account, log in with your Customer Reference Number (CRN) and password. Your CRN is a unique identifier assigned by the SLC and can be found on any correspondence they have sent you. If you do not have an online account, you can register for one. You will need your CRN, date of birth, and a valid email address. The SLC will send a verification email, and once confirmed, you can set up your password and security questions.

Step 3: View Your Dashboard

Once logged in, you will see your repayment dashboard. This shows your current outstanding balance, your loan plan type (Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5 or Postgraduate Loan), the interest rate currently being applied, and a summary of repayments received in the current tax year. If you hold more than one loan — for example, a Plan 2 undergraduate loan and a Postgraduate Loan — each will be shown separately.

Step 4: Download Your Annual Statement

The SLC issues an annual statement each April, covering the previous tax year (6 April to 5 April). This statement provides a more detailed breakdown than the dashboard, including the opening balance at the start of the tax year, the total interest charged during the year, the total repayments received, any adjustments or corrections, and the closing balance at the end of the tax year. You can download previous years' statements as PDF files from the portal.

What Your Balance Actually Shows

The balance displayed on your SLC account is the total amount you owe at a given point in time, including all accrued interest. This is not the same as the amount you originally borrowed. In many cases, the current balance is higher than the amount disbursed because interest has been accumulating since each instalment of your loan was paid out — including during your time at university.

For example, a student who borrowed £9,250 per year in tuition fees for three years plus maintenance loans totalling £27,000 would have been disbursed roughly £54,750 in total. By the time they graduate, interest accrued during study (at RPI + 3% for Plan 2, which could be 6.2% in high-RPI years) may have added several thousand pounds, bringing the balance at graduation to £58,000 or more. This is entirely normal and does not mean anything has gone wrong — it is simply how the interest system works. Our guide on how student loan interest is calculated explains the daily compounding mechanism in full.

Understanding Your Statement — Interest Breakdown

The annual statement breaks interest into a separate line, making it possible to see exactly how much of your balance growth is attributable to interest charges versus the original principal. For Plan 2 borrowers, the interest rate varies depending on your income:

• Income below £29,385: interest is charged at RPI only (around 3.2% in 2026/27).
• Income between £29,385 and £52,885: interest is charged on a sliding scale from RPI to RPI + 3%.
• Income above £52,885: interest is charged at the maximum rate of RPI + 3% (around 6.2%).

For Plan 1 and Plan 4 borrowers, the interest rate is simpler — it is the lower of RPI or the Bank of England base rate plus 1%. In 2026/27, this is approximately 3.2%. Plan 5 borrowers pay interest at RPI only, currently around 3.2%, with no RPI + 3% element regardless of income.

The Postgraduate Loan carries interest at RPI + 3% (approximately 6.2%) for all borrowers, regardless of income. There is no income-linked sliding scale for the postgraduate product.

Why Your Balance May Be Higher Than You Borrowed

Graduates are often shocked when they first check their balance and discover it is thousands of pounds more than they remember borrowing. This happens for several compounding reasons:

Interest During Study

Interest begins accruing on each loan instalment from the day it is paid out, not from the day you graduate. For a three-year degree, the first year's loan accumulates interest for three full years before you even begin repaying. The second year's loan accumulates for two years, and the final year's for one. At rates of 5% to 7%, this adds up quickly.

Interest Exceeding Repayments

In the early years of employment, many graduates find that their annual repayments are less than the annual interest charged. If you earn £30,000 with a Plan 2 loan, your annual repayment is 9% of (£30,000 − £29,385) = about £55. If your balance is £55,000 and the interest rate is 5%, annual interest is £2,750. The balance therefore grows by over £2,600 in that year despite you making repayments. This is why your balance may continue rising for several years after graduation before eventually stabilising and — for higher earners — starting to fall.

RPI Spikes

In recent years, high inflation has pushed RPI (and therefore student loan interest rates) to unusually high levels. When RPI was 13.5% in early 2023, Plan 2 interest rates briefly hit the government cap, and even the capped rates were the highest in the loan system's history. These spikes cause one-off jumps in balances that can look alarming.

Typical Balances by Loan Plan

Understanding where your balance sits relative to others on the same plan can provide useful context:

Plan 1 (Pre-2012 England/Wales, or Northern Ireland)

Typical balances at graduation ranged from £15,000 to £25,000 depending on course length and maintenance loan taken. With a lower interest rate (currently 3.2%) and a 25-year repayment window, many Plan 1 borrowers on reasonable salaries have seen their balances decline steadily and may repay in full. Those who graduated around 2010 with modest starting salaries might still have £10,000 to £18,000 remaining.

Plan 2 (Post-2012 England/Wales)

With tuition fees of up to £9,250 per year, Plan 2 balances at graduation are typically between £45,000 and £65,000 for a three-year course, depending on the maintenance loan amount. Four-year courses (including integrated masters) produce balances of £55,000 to £80,000. After several years of interest accumulation, some borrowers see balances exceeding £70,000 to £90,000. The 30-year write-off means many Plan 2 borrowers will never repay in full — modelling suggests that roughly 75% of Plan 2 borrowers will have some balance written off.

Plan 4 (Scotland)

Scottish students generally have lower balances because tuition fees are covered by SAAS grants for Scottish-domiciled students studying in Scotland. Plan 4 balances are typically £10,000 to £30,000, consisting mainly of maintenance loans. The higher threshold (£33,795) and 30-year term mean that many Scottish borrowers repay very little each month.

Plan 5 (Post-2023 England)

Plan 5 is the newest plan, applying to students starting courses from September 2023. With tuition fees now at £9,790, initial balances are similar to Plan 2. However, the lower repayment threshold of £25,000, lower interest rate (RPI only, no RPI + 3%), and much longer 40-year term mean the repayment experience will be quite different. More borrowers may repay in full, but they will make repayments for a much longer portion of their working lives.

Postgraduate Loan

The maximum Postgraduate Loan for a Master's is £13,206 and for a Doctoral Loan it is £31,122. With interest at RPI + 3% (around 6.2%), these balances can grow quickly. A Master's borrower who took the full £13,206 might see their balance reach £14,000 or more by the time they finish their course and start earning. You can find the full breakdown of how much you can borrow in our article on how much student loan you can get.

Checking Your Repayment History

Your SLC online account lets you view a record of every repayment received. This is valuable for verifying that your employer has been forwarding the correct deductions to HMRC and that HMRC has passed them on to the SLC. Discrepancies do occur — for example, if you change jobs mid-year and your new employer does not immediately set up your student loan deduction correctly, or if you are on the wrong repayment plan in HMRC's records.

If you notice that repayments on your payslip are not being reflected in your SLC account, this is a red flag. There can be a processing delay of several weeks between your employer deducting the repayment and the SLC crediting your account, so allow time before raising a query. If, after eight to twelve weeks, the repayment still has not appeared, contact the SLC directly.

You should also check that the repayment plan shown on your payslip matches the plan on your SLC account. A common error is graduates being placed on Plan 1 when they should be on Plan 2 (or vice versa), which can result in incorrect deductions. The repayment thresholds differ between plans, so being on the wrong plan could mean you are overpaying or underpaying.

Contacting the Student Loans Company

If you cannot access your online account, have forgotten your CRN, or need to resolve a dispute, you can contact the SLC directly:

• Phone: 0300 100 0611 (repayment enquiries). Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and Saturday 9am to 4pm.
• Post: Student Loans Company, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD.
• Online: You can submit queries through the contact form on the SLC website.

When contacting the SLC, have your CRN, National Insurance number and date of birth ready for identity verification. The SLC can provide detailed balance breakdowns, confirm your repayment plan, update your contact details, and resolve discrepancies between your payslip deductions and your account.

Using Our Calculator to Project Future Repayments

Knowing your current balance is the starting point, but understanding what happens next is equally important. Our student loan repayment calculator lets you enter your current balance, salary, expected salary growth and loan plan to project your future repayments year by year. You can see when (or whether) your loan will be fully repaid, how much you will pay in total, and how much will be written off. For teachers, see our specific guide to teacher student loan repayments. PhD students can read about how their stipend affects repayments in our guide to student loans during a PhD.

Key Points to Remember

Your student loan balance is not like credit card debt or a mortgage — it is an income-contingent obligation that is written off after 25 to 40 years depending on your plan. A high balance does not necessarily mean you will repay more in total. What determines your total repayment is your income over the repayment period, not the balance itself. For this reason, focusing too much on the balance figure can be misleading. Instead, focus on understanding your monthly repayment amount and whether you are likely to repay in full or have a portion written off. Our interest calculation guide and calculator can help you build this picture.