This is a very good question and a hard one to answer. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer and it mostly depends on how much you want to go to and think you will benefit from going to University. But, I think you need to understand the debt you are taking on and not be surprised when the repayment is deducted from your first wage packet and the realisation that the same will happen on every pay day for the next 40 years.

The good news is, it's unlikely to be a lot in your first pay packet, unless you're lucky enough to have bagged an incredibly well paid first job. The amount you pay is always based on what you earn and not the amount you have borrowed. This makes it more like a tax than most other loans like a mortgage. If you lose your job, or decide to change career and get a pay cut, you don't need to worry that you won't be able to afford your next student loan payment.

The payment may even be nothing for your first job. You must currently make more than £25,000 a year before you make payments, and the goverment currently plan to increase this with inflation each year. By the time you've found your feet and progressed through your career earning something like £30,000 then your monthly loan payments will be around £40.

To get a better idea of what the payments will be at different stages of your life you can use the Student Loan Calculator I made to help answer this question. It also lets you compare those payments to the other taxes you would have to pay.

Interest payments are added to your loan from the moment you get it. The amount you owe goes up, and if you're not paying it back it doesn't go down. But the interest rate is designed to match inflation. Inflation is the rate at which the value of the things we buy goes up. It's why buying a large latte when I was a student cost around £2.50 and is now close to £4.50. So your loan will go up at the rate of inflation meaning the value of the loan in real terms (ie, what you can buy with that money) does not increase. So, if you pay it off early, it is one less thing to think about, but you've not really saved yourself any money. In fact, you might be paying more than you needed to, if you were unlikely to clear the debt in 40 years and it would have been written off. And, if you don't start paying it back for a while, then although interest payments are added, the real value of the loan does not increase.

So, the only real thing to think about is those monthly payments. You will be able to afford them, but it will be money out of your pay packet that you might need for other things. In an ideal world the value of your degree to you in either increased salary potential, or the personal value of the experience will be worth more to you than these payments.

I don't think you can know that before for sure, but the system is set up to tax the people more who benefit from it most. If you don't pay it back in 40 years because your salary didn't increase enough, then the remaining balance is written off. You can use the student loan calculator, to work out what career paths would lead to having your loan paid off.

So, I think the answer is, if it's a course you really want to do, go for it and make sure you get your money's worth. Also, do check out my calculator.

Everything in this article was written in 2026 and applies to the UK and how student loans are currently structured.