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Assuming your salary will increase only by RPI though is a very pessimistic assumption. That's effectively saying you'll never get a real term pay rise. Is that a plausible assumption? Without meaning this in any way rudely, even people who are not great tend to get promoted at some point... Obviously this depends on the industry etc but I don't know anyone who would be comfortable accepting the same money indefinitely, expectations (and what's available) increase over time. Especially in grad roles
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As an example, if you look at a graduate accountancy position your wage after three years is likely to be 80%+ higher than your starting wage.
@bananaskid
@bobble and @skinny I did a little research into this and decided probably the best thing to do before paying any extra back is to wait until I finally settle on the career path that I'm going to stick with.
Having done a 3-year degree I've got £43,000 debt which will be increasing at about ~7%. If I get a job that has the average starting salary (£22-30k depending upon source), and it were to increase close to RPI then by the end of 30 years I wouldn't come to remotely close to paying it back. I think the greatest uncertainty in this equation is your expected future income rather than inflation rates and returns on savings/investment that you do in lieu of paying back your student loan.
Additionally, for most recent students I'd recommend setting up a Lifetime ISA instead of paying back your student loan given a guaranteed 25% government bonus that you can use on a house deposit.