Table 9: Undergraduate borrowers, 2025/26 cohort: average repayment by income decile, study type, age at srdd and sex
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Average loan balance at SRDD, average loan balance at SRDD in FY2025 prices, average lifetime repayments in FY2025 prices, median years liable to repay, and proportion of loan outlay repaid in real terms of undergraduate borrowers, by lifetime decile
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Data set details
- Theme
- Finance and funding
- Publication
- Student loan forecasts for England
- Release
- Financial year 2025-26
- Release type
- Number of rows
- 144
- Geographic levels
- National
- Indicators
- Average loan balance at SRDD (nominal)
- Average loan balance at SRDD (in FY2025-26 prices)
- Average lifetime repayments (in FY2025-26 prices)
- Filters
- Lifetime earnings decile
- Sudy type
- Sex
- Time period
- 2025/26
Data set preview
| plan_type | course_start_year | study_type | lifetime_earning_decile | sex | age_at_srdd | average_loan_balance_at_srdd_nominal | average_loan_balance_at_srdd_real_terms | average_lifetime_repayments_real_terms | proportion_of_outlay_repaid_real_terms | median_length_of_repayment | time_period | time_identifier | geographic_level | country_code | country_name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 5 | 2025 | Total | Total | Total | Total | 45800 | 40800 | 27900 | 69 | 30 | 202526 | Academic year | National | E92000001 | England |
| Plan 5 | 2025 | Total | 1 | Total | Total | 45200 | 40200 | 3300 | 8 | 40 | 202526 | Academic year | National | E92000001 | England |
| Plan 5 | 2025 | Total | 2 | Total | Total | 44500 | 39600 | 7100 | 18 | 40 | 202526 | Academic year | National | E92000001 | England |
| Plan 5 | 2025 | Total | 3 | Total | Total | 45400 | 40500 | 13800 | 34 | 40 | 202526 | Academic year | National | E92000001 | England |
| Plan 5 | 2025 | Total | 4 | Total | Total | 46500 | 41300 | 20000 | 49 | 40 | 202526 | Academic year | National | E92000001 | England |
Variables in this data set
| Variable name | Variable description |
|---|---|
| age_at_srdd | Age at srdd - Filter by age at srdd |
| average_lifetime_repayments_real_terms | Average lifetime repayments (in FY2025-26 prices) |
| average_loan_balance_at_srdd_nominal | Average loan balance at SRDD (nominal) |
| average_loan_balance_at_srdd_real_terms | Average loan balance at SRDD (in FY2025-26 prices) |
| lifetime_earning_decile | Lifetime earnings decile - Filter by lifetime earnings decile |
Footnotes
- Coverage: Borrowers who receive undergraduate loans through Student Finance England. For further details on eligibility, please see the Student Finance England practitioner website: Link to practitioner products section on the SLC website (opens in new tab).
- A summary timeline of the introduction of different plan types is available in Table 1.1 in the publication Methodology: Link to student loan forecasts for England methodology
- Mean averages are taken per loan (rather than per borrower). One borrower can take multiple loans across multiple periods of study, for example, by taking a PGCE after an undergraduate degree.
- Data covers all full-time and part-time undergraduate borrowers starting in academic year 2025/26 under Plan 5 only.
- Median years liable to repay includes borrowers in active repayment of loan debt including and interest charged on the balance of the loan. Any figures shorter than the repayment term (40 years for Plan 5) reflect borrowers who fully repay or have their loans written off before term (e.g. due to death).
- Deciles refer to the projected lifetime earnings for undergraduate student loan borrowers only. They do not align with earnings deciles for the population in general. “Lifetime” here does not reflect earnings prior to study or more than three years beyond the repayment term of a borrower’s loan.
- For higher earnings deciles the Plan 5 figures for 'proportion of outlay repaid in real terms' slightly exceed 100% even though interest is set in line with RPI. This is because the interest is set to RPI on a 1 year lag whereas discounting is based on unlagged RPI.
- Loan borrowers normally become liable to begin repaying a loan at the start of the tax year (6 April) after graduating or otherwise leaving their course, this point is known as their Statutory Repayment Due Date (SRDD). After their SRDD, borrowers are required to make repayments if their income is above the repayment threshold. Borrowers studying part-time, reach SRDD on the earlier of, the start of the tax year following them ceasing to be eligible for student support, or the start of the tax year following the 4th anniversary of the start of their course.
- Years liable to repay measures the time between SRDD and either loan write-off (at term or before) or the loan being fully repaid.
- Lifetime earnings are considered as all earnings between SRDD and 43 years after SRDD, normalised using average earnings growth indices.
- Values in 2025-26 prices have been calculated using OBR forecasts for RPI. Link to economic and fiscal outlook – March 2026 - Office for Budget Responsibility (opens in new tab)
- Monetary average figures have been rounded to the nearest £100.
- Proportions have been rounded to the nearest 1%.
- Proportions may not appear to sum due to rounding.
- Data on borrower sex, comes directly from the main SLC data collection. SLC pose the collection category as ‘sex’ with the options ‘female’ or ‘male’.
- Monetary values given in FY2025-26 prices, are presented as the value at financial year start. These have been calculated using the retail price index (RPI) figure for March of each year (available as an out-turn series RPI All Items: Percentage change over 12 months: Jan 1987=100 - Office for National Statistics (opens in new tab), future values from the OBR publication Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2026 - Office for Budget Responsibility (opens in new tab)
- Proportions of borrowers within each age at SRRD category vary considerably, for example all borrowers taking three or four year undergraduate degrees soon after leaving school would reach SRDD within the 21-25 age group.
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If you have a specific enquiry about Table 9: Undergraduate borrowers, 2025/26 cohort: average repayment by income decile, study type, age at srdd and sex statistics and data:
Higher Education Analysis
Email: he.modelling@education.gov.ukContact name: Tony Carter and Sally Mercer