The BBC has designed a simple calculator to give students repaying loans under the new system an idea of how much it may cost them to pay off their student loans.
The calculator uses estimates of predicted lifetime earnings based on the career areas students are considering pursuing, along with their current age and gender.
Because all the figures are based on averages, low and high earners in a particular category would pay different amounts to those given by the calculator. The earnings figures for each career type include all employees, not just graduates, because graduate-only figures are not available.
The calculator is designed to provide a general illustration of cost of financing in various scenarios, rather than to give precise predictions of how much individuals will have to pay. The figures are all in 2011 money, so reflect how much particular amounts of money are worth to you today.
You need to enter your age, the loan amount, number of years of study and when your course starts, plus your gender and your area of study. You’re then presented with a graph showing the payments you’ll make, together with a table of the data and the total repayment, which could well be quite daunting.
Try out the student loan calculator.