It’s reported that 82% of UK graduates will never pay off their student loans and even high earning graduates that will ultimately struggle to pay back the entire debt as it is hit with rising unaffordable interest rates. Less well-off young people may be put off university, hitting the supply of graduates in key sectors such as Nursing and Social Work.

Now with the unveiling of the government’s student loan changes, analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) thinktank found that lower-middle- and middle-income graduates will be hardest hit, paying £30,000 more than current graduates, with repayments spread over 40 years. But graduates in the highest income brackets will pay £20,000 less as the progressive elements of the existing loan package are stripped away.

As the cost of living in the UK continues to increase rapidly year on year, those repaying their university loans also find that they are faced with an annual increase in student debt. Sonic Jobs conducted this study to reveal which degrees have the potential to pay back their entire student loan, as well as to find insights into which university degrees will not ever repay their entire debt.

Nursing graduates will still be paying off their loans by the end of the 30 year cut off
Dentistry graduates will pay off their loan the quickest in an average of 16 years
Veterinary Medicine graduates can repay their loan in an average of 19 years
Medicine graduates can repay their loan in an average of 23 years
Less Than 18% of UK Graduates Repay Their Student Debt
Counselling degrees only pay an average of £20,719 after 5 years of work. Followed by Social Work at £22,276 and Ecology making £23,066 after working for half a decade.

The Highest Paying Degrees

On average, it takes graduates who actually repay back their student loans in full 29.5 years to complete their repayments. Even so, most graduates never repay their entire student loan, working for 30 years at which point the debt is wiped. Dentistry is the highest paying profession following a degree, with an average starting salary of £59000. Dentists can expect to repay their student loan quicker than any other profession, within 16 years, assuming an average 3% yearly increase in salary. Veterinary medicine is a close second with another high starting salary, earning an average of £52000 per year within the first year of graduating from university. Medicine graduates, such as doctors, will find that their initial pay grade will depend upon a number of factors, including location and specialisation. On average, those who study medicine can expect to earn £46231.50 for their first year of work. With an annual wage increase of 3% per year, those within this field can expect to pay their student loan off within 23 years.

Highest paid degrees
Average Starting Salary
Years Loan is Repaid in
Dentistry
£59,000
16
Veterinary medicine
£52,500
19
Medicine
£46,231.50
23

The Degrees That Don’t Pay Off

Counselling degrees only pay an average of £20,719 after 5 years of work. Followed by Social Work at £22,276 and Ecology making £23,066 after working for half a decade.

Most degrees will never pay off their student debt in full, but there are certain degrees that never get anywhere near to full repayments. As current graduates don’t start making loan repayments until they meet the £27,295 threshold, the lowest paid degrees won’t be making any loan repayments after 5 years of work.

The top 10 lowest paid degrees earn an average of £22854.5 after 5 years, meaning these graduates are set to pay back very little compared to the higher earning university degrees.

Lowest Paid UK Degrees
Annual Salary after 5 Years
Counselling
£20,719
Social Work
£22,276
Ecology
£23,066
Pharmacy
£23,462
Nursing
£24,132
Italian
£24,425
Social Sciences
£24,602
Criminology
£24,808
Art
£24,862
English Language
£24,990

Less Than 18% of UK Graduates Repay Their Student Debt

With 761,215 people graduating from UK universities annually, only 42,819 of graduates, less than 18%, pay off their student debt. As under a fifth of graduates ever pay their loans off in full, we can see there is a huge pay gap between different professions, with some of the most important roles seeing a reduction in applicants annually.