Plan 4 (Scotland) student loans explained
If you applied for your student loan through the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), you’re on Plan 4. It has a different threshold from every other plan, and a write-off date that depends on when you first borrowed.
Who is on Plan 4
Everyone who applied to SAAS, whether they studied an undergraduate or a postgraduate course. That’s different from England and Wales, where a Master’s or Doctoral loan is a separate Postgraduate Loan plan. If you’re a Scottish postgraduate, you’re on Plan 4 as well, and this site’s Postgraduate Loan figures don’t apply to you.
Students who applied to Student Finance England, Wales or Northern Ireland, even if they studied at a Scottish university, aren’t on Plan 4. Your plan depends on where you applied, not where you studied. See which student loan plan am I on?
The numbers
For 2026–27 the figures this site uses are:
- Threshold: £33,795 a year, the highest of the plans this site covers
- Repayment rate: 9% of income above the threshold
- Interest: 4.1%
For a given salary that generally means Plan 4 borrowers start repaying later than those on other plans and repay less each year at lower incomes. See how much will I repay? for the formula.
When Plan 4 is written off
It depends on when you were paid the first loan for your course:
- First loan paid on or after 1 August 2007: written off 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.
- First loan paid before 1 August 2007: written off when you’re 65, or 30 years after the April you were first due to repay, whichever comes first.
What it means for overpaying
With a high threshold and a 30 years write-off period, whether your loan is cleared or cancelled depends heavily on your salary. Lower earners may see a balance written off. Higher earners may repay in full, in which case the interest is a real cost. The question that decides it is set out in should I overpay my student loan?, and you can test it in the calculator by choosing “Plan 4 (Scotland)”.
If you have another loan too
Holding Plan 4 with another plan means one combined deduction, worked out on the lowest threshold. See what if you have more than one student loan plan?
Source: GOV.UK, Repaying your student loan. Figures are those used on this site for 2026–27.