student finance- if you just work part time when qualified, how to pay back

[purple15]

hi I am 41 years old and thinking of doing the social work degree. If once qualified I just work part time, and do not quite earn the £20,000 how do you go on paying the loan back when the threshold is £20 k ?
Many thanks

If its your first degree, and you are earning under the threshold to repay (I thought it was higher from this academic year though, around £24k?) you don't have to start repaying it. You can choose to make some payments though as far as I know, but no obligation to do so. Once you are over the threshold, if pai through PAYE the money will be deducted with tax and NI.

What if I never earn over the threshhold and stay as a part time worker ? How does that work ?

After a certain number of years the debt is written off, not sure how long though, I think it's about 35 years

thanks for that. Trust me to be thinking of uni, the year everything increases.

Same here, I'm starting an OU degree this September.

If you never earn over the threshold you never pay it back.

that does not sound right titchy, if you never earn over the £20 k you dont pay back ? You will end up owing loads, with the price of tutuion now.

Titchy is right, as I said above the debt is written off after a certain number of years.

Titchy is quite right. If you don't earn above the repayment threshold you make no repayments and anything outstanding is written off after 30(?) years.

I'm a mature student, planning to work in the third sector and according to the calculator on the BBC website will make no repayments!

The way I view it, my peers who went to uni when aged 18 or so had no loans so not paying mine back simply means I'm having the same benefits as them. :)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14785676#student_finance_form

Indeed, if you don't earn over £21k, then you don't have to pay anything back. You repay at a rate of 9% of anything over £21k that you earn, so for instance if you earned £30k, then you would pay 9% of £9k = £810pa = £67.50.

If you never earn over £21k, then you never repay a penny. Anything that you have not repaid after 30 years is wiped off, and student finance doesn't affect your credit rating.

PS repayments are done via the PAYE system.

Don't forget that natural wage inflation over the years will eventually push you over £21k, as that threshold doesn't increase.

What if I never earn over the threshhold and stay as a part time worker ? How does that work ?

It's written off when you retire.

It's written off from 35 years after the April after graduation in my case

It gets written off and you'll never repay anything at all if you work p/t or are a sahm. I'm starting a creative writing degree next year as it's something that interests me but I plan to be a sahm afterwards and maybe do some p/t work, so I'm not worried about the debt at all.