Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How much student loan did you owe when you graduated?

129 replies

Theda13 · 30/01/2026 14:21

I owed £21,119 when I graduated in 2020 (Plan 2 in Wales). I had the highest amount of grants (maintenance and tuition fees) due to coming from a low-income household.

What about you?

OP posts:
Amba1998 · 30/01/2026 20:25

£18k

rang a couple of years ago and they told me I owe £23k

gave up caring

XenoBitch · 30/01/2026 20:23

£3000 in 1999. I never graduated, and I never worked in a job that paid enough to pay it off. The odd £9 or so came off when I did overtime.
I am on UC now so any repayments have stopped anyway. I dread to think what the amount actually is now.
I get a letter every year telling me to log in and check my details but I never had log in details as it was not online when I applied 🙄

lonelyy · 30/01/2026 20:20

Graduated in 2019 after a 4-year undergraduate and 1-year master's. I currently owe £93,900 - absolutely ridiculous

FortyDegreeDay · 30/01/2026 20:11

I graduated in 2018 with something like £45,000 worth of student debt for a 4 year course. I received the maximum maintenance loan and also a grant (which I’m pretty sure the grant element no longer exists). I pay over £400 a month in repayments and I owe something ridiculous like £74,000 now. I started paying my loan back immediately as my graduate salary was just above the repayment threshold. It’s crap and it’s one of the reasons I can’t afford to have children yet.

MrsHemswoth · 30/01/2026 18:52

its all changed so much!!

MrsHemswoth · 30/01/2026 18:51

At uni for 4 years in mid 1990’s and left with about 5k debt - didn’t pay off for first 3 years as didn’t earn enough but when moved to London I had to start paying it off - it was about £95 per month and at that time I was earning around 27k per annum. Very low interest rate - it was paid off in 5 years.
I had no tuition fees either

IfWhippetsRuledTheWorld · 30/01/2026 18:47

£7-8k I think (early 2000s). Paid it off after about 5 years I think.

The levels of debt current students build up terrifies me! The interest rates are ridiculous.

saltandvinegarchipsticks · 30/01/2026 18:46

It was around 25k in 2014. Due to pay it off in about a year.

Fidgety31 · 30/01/2026 18:34

Glindaa · 30/01/2026 17:24

So you never paid it off ?

Not yet . I was always eligible for deferment of repayment due to low income …
but then I moved house and didn’t defer in time … so student loans company sold the debt to an agency . It’s now with them .
ironically it would’ve been cleared when I reach 50 if student loans had kept the debt .
I turn 50 this year 🤦‍♀️😂

stravagante · 30/01/2026 18:06

Just under £40k in 2010. Included a year of postgraduate training in London with high fees. I have paid it off and I use my degree every day but it is depressing that that is a hefty house deposit that I have paid.

ArtesianWater · 30/01/2026 18:01

Theda13 · 30/01/2026 14:21

I owed £21,119 when I graduated in 2020 (Plan 2 in Wales). I had the highest amount of grants (maintenance and tuition fees) due to coming from a low-income household.

What about you?

Graduated from Masters in 2005 with about £12K debt. Paid it off over 10 years - could have done it sooner but it would have been foolish to overpay such cheap debt when I had a mortgage etc. I later did another Masters to support a career change but self-funded that out of a small inheritance. Ever grateful to my late grandparents for that.

Hiddenhouse · 30/01/2026 18:01

I think mine was about £27k in 2009 and then another £25k professional loan for the masters - paid it off in 2023 I think it was and felt as happy as if I had finished paying my mortgage! Or I imagine that’s what it feels like I don’t think I will ever pay this mortgage off

JustMeHello · 30/01/2026 17:57

I graduated in 96 with maybe 15k, I'm not sure. Never paid any back and it all got wiped when I turned 50.

OhDear111 · 30/01/2026 17:24

@Theda13 My DD has. Graduated 2014 after four year degree.Then did 2 years of full time law courses - paid it off in 2023. It was the lower tuition fee though (2010).

Glindaa · 30/01/2026 17:24

Fidgety31 · 30/01/2026 17:13

About £4.5k graduated 2000. It was sold off to a debt collection agency and now about £6k

So you never paid it off ?

Glindaa · 30/01/2026 17:23

Appleandcidergravy · 30/01/2026 14:39

2012- £8000, paid off in 2020

Did you live at home ? Because that amount wouldn’t cover fees and accommodation and books & living costs etc not to mention a socialising budget

Ineedanewsofa · 30/01/2026 17:18

£10k in 2005, paid it off in full by July 2015. Had actually overpaid so spent 18 months(!) trying to get back the £3k they owed me, eventually got it back which was a bonus (no interest though, they kept that despite depriving me of the opportunity to earn interest during that time!)
Students Loans have always been an absolute shitshow, we will advise DC to really think through all post 18 options when the time comes as I don’t think degrees are the right path for everyone or every career

Fidgety31 · 30/01/2026 17:13

About £4.5k graduated 2000. It was sold off to a debt collection agency and now about £6k

Sofado · 30/01/2026 17:13

Nothing. No student loan my day.

Orangemintcream · 30/01/2026 17:12

About 20 grand in 2010. Been paying it off for over 10 years and it’s still about 20 grand.

My career doesn’t pay well and I’ll likely never pay it off and yet it requires a degree…

Its even worse now - I think it’s absolutely appalling it costs so much and that the interest rates are so high.

Hoppinggreen · 30/01/2026 17:11

£250
Tuition was free and they were swapping grants for loans just before I left
DD will have around £60k aand its putting DS off from going to uni at all

Novemberbrain · 30/01/2026 17:08

£12k in 2007, about £1k left to pay now as I haven't earned enough to pay automatically for about 6 years (part time since 1st DC).
It was tough paying even the minimum repayments throughout my 20s when I was struggling to pay rent/bills but compared to today's fees I got off lightly, agree it isn't right to saddle young people with these huge amounts.

ImFckingMattDamon · 30/01/2026 16:56

About £12,000 when I graduated in 2007. That was just the maintenance loan though, the local LEA paid the majority of tuition fees with a small parental contribution on top. I don't earn enough to pay it off and I doubt I ever will so as a group 1 loan it will be written off when I'm 65!

PluckyChancer · 30/01/2026 16:53

Zero debt. I studied part time in the 90’s whilst working full time in an unrelated job and paid my tuition fees myself. Luckily, the fees weren’t too high.

Still, I couldn’t afford to continue onto the LPC as the risk of not getting a training contract was too great and so I never really did much with my Law degree. ☹️

Willowkins · 30/01/2026 16:31

None. I graduated in 1983.
My DD will owe about £80K (4-year degree in London) when she finishes next year. I like to paint it as an investment but really I think it's wrong to saddle young people with this much debt in today's economy.