Student Loan Repayments on a £30,000 Salary
Earning £30,000? Here is exactly how much student loan you will repay each month on every UK repayment plan.
Repayment Breakdown at £30,000
A salary of £30,000 places you above the repayment threshold for most UK student loan plans. This is a common salary level for graduates who are a few years into their career, and understanding exactly how much leaves your pay packet for student loan repayments is essential for budgeting and financial planning. The good news is that at £30,000, repayments are still relatively modest across all plans.
The core repayment formula is simple: you pay a percentage of your income above your plan's annual threshold. For undergraduate plans (1, 2, 4, and 5), the rate is 9%. For Postgraduate Loans, the rate is 6%. These deductions are made automatically through PAYE by your employer, just like income tax and National Insurance.
| Plan | Threshold | Income Above | Monthly Repayment | Annual Repayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | £3,100 | £23.25 | £279 |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | £615 | £4.61 | £55.35 |
| Plan 4 | £33,795 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | £5,000 | £37.50 | £450 |
| Postgraduate | £21,000 | £9,000 | £45.00 | £540 |
Plan 1 — £23.25 per Month at £30,000
Plan 1 applies to English and Welsh borrowers who started their undergraduate course before 1 September 2012, as well as some older postgraduate and EU borrowers. The repayment threshold for 2026/27 is £26,900 per year. At a salary of £30,000, your income above the threshold is £3,100, and you repay 9% of that amount, giving an annual repayment of £279 or approximately £23.25 per month.
This is a modest amount that most people earning £30,000 can absorb comfortably. To put it in context, £23.25 per month is roughly the cost of a streaming subscription and a couple of coffees. The interest rate on Plan 1 is fixed at 3.2% (linked to RPI), and the loan is written off after 25 years from the April after you graduated or left your course.
At this repayment level, whether or not you will clear the loan within 25 years depends on your starting balance and future salary growth. If you borrowed around £15,000-£20,000 on Plan 1 and your salary grows beyond £30,000 over time, there is a reasonable chance you will repay in full. However, if you borrowed closer to the maximum and stay at this salary level, the 3.2% interest may cause your balance to grow faster than your repayments reduce it. Use the Plan 1 calculator with your exact balance to model your personal scenario.
Plan 2 — £4.61 per Month at £30,000
Plan 2 covers English and Welsh borrowers who started their course on or after 1 September 2012. With a threshold of £29,385, a £30,000 salary only exceeds it by £615, producing very small repayments of just £4.61 per month or £55.35 per year. This is the lowest undergraduate repayment at this salary level.
The Plan 2 interest rate is variable, ranging from RPI (3.2%) for those earning at or below £29,385, up to RPI + 3% (6.2%) for those earning above £52,885. At £30,000, your interest rate will be just slightly above the base RPI rate — approximately 3.28% — because you are only marginally above the lower threshold. On a typical Plan 2 balance of £40,000-£50,000, interest alone will add £1,300-£1,650 per year, dwarfing your £55.35 annual repayment.
This means your balance is growing, not shrinking. But this is perfectly normal for Plan 2 — the majority of borrowers (roughly 70-75%) are expected to have their loan written off after 30 years without ever repaying in full. At £30,000, you are almost certainly in this category. Treat it as a small additional tax rather than a debt to worry about, and focus your financial energy on other priorities like pension contributions and building savings.
Plan 4 — No Repayments at £30,000
Plan 4 is for Scottish borrowers who took out student loans from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). It has the highest undergraduate threshold at £33,795, which means at a £30,000 salary, you are £3,795 below the threshold and make zero repayments. Your employer should not deduct any student loan from your pay.
This is one of the advantages of the Scottish student loan system. While Scottish graduates typically borrow less overall (due to lower tuition fees in Scotland), they also benefit from the highest repayment threshold. At £30,000, you are effectively in the same position as someone without a student loan — no money leaves your pay packet for loan repayments. Interest still accrues at 3.2% and the loan will be written off after 30 years, but the balance growing while you make no repayments is simply how the system is designed.
If your salary rises above £33,795, you will start making repayments. At £34,000, the repayment would be roughly £1.54 per month — barely noticeable. You would need to earn significantly more before Plan 4 repayments become a material amount. Check your exact figures using the Plan 4 calculator.
Plan 5 — £37.50 per Month at £30,000
Plan 5 is the newest undergraduate repayment plan, applying to English borrowers who start their course on or after 1 August 2023. It has the lowest undergraduate threshold at £25,000, which means it captures a larger portion of your income compared to other undergraduate plans. At £30,000, your income above the threshold is £5,000, producing repayments of £37.50 per month or £450 per year.
Plan 5 has the longest write-off period at 40 years, but also benefits from the lowest interest rate, capped at RPI only (3.2%) with no additional percentage added on top. This is a deliberate design choice — lower interest but longer repayment window means lower-earning borrowers pay less overall, while higher earners will likely repay in full plus some interest over the extended period.
At £30,000, your £450 annual repayment versus interest of approximately 3.2% on your balance means the balance will still be growing if you borrowed a typical amount of £40,000+. However, the 40-year write-off gives the system considerable time to capture repayments as your salary grows. The government's modelling suggests more Plan 5 borrowers will repay in full compared to Plan 2, largely because of this extended window. Use our Plan 5 calculator to explore your trajectory.
Postgraduate Loan — £45 per Month at £30,000
The Postgraduate Loan has the lowest threshold of all plans at £21,000 and a separate 6% repayment rate. At £30,000, your income above the threshold is £9,000, producing repayments of £45 per month or £540 per year. Importantly, Postgraduate Loan repayments are in addition to any undergraduate loan repayments — they are not combined.
If you hold both a Plan 2 undergraduate loan and a Postgraduate Loan on a £30,000 salary, your total monthly deduction is £4.61 + £45.00 = £49.61 per month. This combined deduction is worth bearing in mind when budgeting. The Postgraduate Loan interest rate is RPI + 3% (6.2%), and the loan is written off after 30 years.
At £540 per year in repayments versus 6.2% interest on a typical £10,000-£12,000 Postgraduate Loan balance (£620-£744 in annual interest), the balance is growing. Most Postgraduate Loan borrowers at this salary level will see their loan eventually written off rather than repaid in full.
Comparison with Nearby Salaries
Understanding how repayments change with even modest salary increases or decreases helps you plan for pay rises, new roles, or salary negotiations. Here is how repayments compare across the £28,000-£35,000 range:
| Salary | Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 4 | Plan 5 | Postgraduate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £8.25/m | £0/m | £0/m | £22.50/m | £35/m |
| £30,000 | £23.25/m | £4.61/m | £0/m | £37.50/m | £45/m |
| £32,000 | £38.25/m | £19.61/m | £0/m | £52.50/m | £55/m |
| £35,000 | £60.75/m | £42.11/m | £9.04/m | £75/m | £70/m |
Notice how Plan 4 remains at zero across this range until £33,000+. Plan 2 increases the most steeply in absolute terms as you move through this bracket because £30,000 is only just above its threshold. A pay rise from £30,000 to £35,000 increases Plan 2 repayments from £4.61/month to £42.11/month — a fourfold increase for a 17% pay rise. For more detailed modelling, use our comparison tool to see all plans side by side.
Impact on Your Take-Home Pay
At £30,000, after income tax (20% on earnings above £12,570) and National Insurance (8% on earnings above £12,570), your monthly take-home pay before student loan is approximately £2,012. Student loan repayments reduce this further:
- Plan 1: Take-home drops to approximately £1,989 (£23.25 deduction)
- Plan 2: Take-home drops to approximately £2,007 (£4.61 deduction)
- Plan 4: No change — take-home remains approximately £2,012
- Plan 5: Take-home drops to approximately £1,975 (£37.50 deduction)
- Postgraduate only: Take-home drops to approximately £1,967 (£45 deduction)
- Plan 2 + Postgraduate: Take-home drops to approximately £1,962 (£49.61 combined)
In percentage terms, your student loan repayment represents between 0.2% (Plan 2) and 2.3% (Plan 5) of your gross salary. Even with the Postgraduate Loan combined with Plan 2, the total deduction is under 2% of your gross income. This is designed to be affordable — the repayment system ensures that lower and middle earners are not burdened by excessive deductions. Check your payslip deductions to make sure the correct amount is being taken.
Should You Make Voluntary Overpayments?
At £30,000, voluntary overpayments are almost never worthwhile. Here is why: for Plan 2 borrowers, your £55.35 annual repayment is a fraction of the interest accruing on your balance. Overpaying to clear a loan that will likely be written off means spending money you will never get back. The same logic applies to Plan 5 borrowers, where the 40-year write-off makes early repayment even less attractive at this salary.
Plan 1 borrowers have a marginally stronger case for overpayment because the 25-year write-off is shorter and the balance may be relatively low. However, even here, your money is almost always better used for pension contributions (which provide tax relief and employer matching), building an emergency fund, or paying off genuinely expensive debt like credit cards. Read our comprehensive guide on whether to repay your student loan early for a full analysis.
Salary Sacrifice and Student Loans at £30,000
If your employer offers salary sacrifice arrangements — typically for pension contributions, cycle-to-work schemes, or childcare vouchers — these can reduce your student loan repayments because they lower your gross salary for PAYE purposes. For example, if you sacrifice £100 per month into your pension on a £30,000 salary, your effective salary for repayment purposes drops to £28,800. This would reduce Plan 1 repayments from £23.25/month to £14.25/month, and Plan 2 repayments from £4.61/month to £0/month (since £28,800 is below the £29,385 threshold).
At £30,000, salary sacrifice is particularly powerful for Plan 2 borrowers because you are so close to the threshold. A relatively modest salary sacrifice can bring you below £29,385, eliminating Plan 2 repayments entirely while simultaneously building pension savings and reducing your income tax and National Insurance. This is one of the most efficient financial strategies available to graduates at this salary level.
Tips for Graduates Earning £30,000
- Budget around your net pay: Know your exact take-home after tax, NI, pension, and student loan. At £30,000, your student loan deduction is small enough that it should not dramatically affect your spending plans.
- Explore salary sacrifice: Even small pension contributions via salary sacrifice can reduce or eliminate student loan repayments while boosting your retirement savings. This is especially effective for Plan 2 borrowers at £30,000.
- Don't overpay your loan: At this salary, your repayments are modest and overpayment rarely makes financial sense. Prioritise building an emergency fund and contributing to your workplace pension.
- Check your payslip: Verify that the correct plan type and deduction amount appear on your payslip. Errors do happen, and being on the wrong plan can mean overpaying.
- Plan for pay rises: Use our calculators to model how a future salary increase would affect your repayments. A promotion to £35,000 would roughly double your Plan 1 repayments and quadruple your Plan 2 repayments.
- Consider mortgage impact: If you are saving for a house, know that lenders factor student loan repayments into affordability assessments. At £30,000, the impact is small but still worth understanding. Read more about student loans and mortgages.
Calculate Your Exact Repayments
Every borrower's situation is different. Your exact repayment trajectory depends on your balance, interest rate, salary growth, and years remaining until write-off. Use our free calculators to model your personal scenario:
- Plan 1 Calculator — threshold £26,900, 9% rate, 25-year write-off
- Plan 2 Calculator — threshold £29,385, 9% rate, 30-year write-off
- Plan 4 Calculator — threshold £33,795, 9% rate, 30-year write-off
- Plan 5 Calculator — threshold £25,000, 9% rate, 40-year write-off
- Postgraduate Loan Calculator — threshold £21,000, 6% rate, 30-year write-off
- Compare all plans side by side
- Early repayment calculator — see if overpaying makes sense for you
You can also explore our guides on how student loan repayments work and salary sacrifice strategies for further reading.