As of 6 April, people will need to have an annual salary of at least £25,000 to begin repaying their student loans in Scotland.
The Scottish government is set to increase the earnings threshold for people paying back their student loans this year. Introduced as part of a new repayment plan for people in Scotland who have taken out student loans known as “Plan 4”, this change will be implemented on 6 April 2021.
The approximate monthly salary threshold has been increased from around £1,615 to £2,083 before taxes, with the same deduction rate of around 9%. This means that people paying off their student debt would need to be earning an annual salary of at least £25,000, as opposed to the current threshold of around £19,390. As a result of this change, people whose income falls under this new threshold can potentially retain up to £42 more of their salary per month.
This news comes after the Scottish government ran an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) which determined last month that increasing the threshold to this level would have a positive impact on the financial stability of those paying back their student loans. Though this change was initially announced back in June 2018, it was not set to be implemented until this year.
This change will also apply to both students who have not finished receiving their student loans as well as those who are currently paying their own debts off. For anyone currently repaying their debts who is earning less than £25,000, this deduction will cease until their salary matches this new threshold.
