Scottish Statistics of Student Loan Repayments

The Scotland’s Chief Statistician and the Student Loans Company (SLC) today published official statistics on the repayment of income contingent student loans.

Repayments of income contingent student loans only comence once the ex-student’s income exceeds £1,250 a month. At that point repayments are generally collected from gross income by the employer, at their expense, and paid through the tax system.

The key findings are:

As of the 30 June 2009, 18 per cent of the 2000 cohort had fully repaid their loans, after nine years of repayment liability – compared to only three per cent of the latest entry cohort (2009).

For the latest cohort year at which full repayment status information is available (2007) 28 per cent were in employment and had made at least one repayment during tax year 200-08. A further 35 per cent were employed but below the £15,000 earnings threshold for repayment.

21 per cent of the 2007 cohort year were not repaying any loans in tax year 2007-08 as their residence and (or) employment status had not yet been determined.

The average amount repaid by each borrower through the tax system in the tax year 2007-08 ranged from £390 for the 2007 cohort in its first year of repayment to £610 for both the 2003 and 2004 cohorts, after four/five years of repayment liability. The total amount repaid via the tax system by the 2007 cohort in tax year 2007-08 was £4.2 million.

The average debt for borrowers who still had a live account at the end of tax year 2007-08 ranged from £5,300 for the 2000 cohort, after eight years of repayment liability to £7,480 for the 2004 cohort, after four years of repayment liability. The 2007 cohort had an average debt of £6,850.

It should be noted that,

The average repayment amount dropped for all repayment cohorts except the 2004 cohort between tax year 2004-05 and 2005-06 due to the increase, from £10,000 to £15,000, in the income threshold at which repayments begin.

Press Release: Scotland.gov.uk.

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