Student Loan Refunds: Everything You Need To Know
Student loan overpayment? You might be entitled to a student loan refund.
If you’re a student and you’re strapped for cash, you’ve probably wished for money to fall into your hands with minimal effort. Actually, we’ve all wished that…
Luckily, there might be a fairly simple way for you to get some money into your account; with a student loan refund. It’s rare you get the chance to say, “hey, you owe me money” when it comes to university and student loans, but now might be your chance.
If you’ve graduated and have gone into employment, you might be one of the million university leavers that are able to request a student loan refund. Yep, your prayers have been answered.
Unfortunately, if you’re still at university or aren’t in employment, this probably won’t apply to you right now. But, bookmark this page because it might be useful once you graduate.
Wondering when your student loan will drop? Check out the student finance payment dates for 2024/2025.
Jump to:
- When do I start paying student loan?
- Am I entitled to a student loan refund?
- How to submit a student loan refund request
- How long does student loan refund take?
When do I start paying student loan?
If you’re still studying, don’t fret just yet. You’re likely not paying back student loan, unless this isn’t your first degree.
You’ll only start repaying your student loan once you’re in employment and earning over the threshold for your repayment plan. Not sure what plan you’re on? Check out our guide to student loan plans to figure out which plan you’re on.
The threshold amounts change every year on the 6th April, but the earliest you’ll start repaying is:
- The April after you leave your course
- The April 4 years after the course started if you’re studying part-time or doing a Postgraduate Doctoral course and your course is longer than 4 years
- April 2026 if you’re on Plan 5
Your repayments will pause/stop if you stop working or if your income goes lower than the threshold.
Am I entitled to a student loan refund?
If only the world was generous enough to offer all students some money back, but that isn’t the case. Booo!
If you’re not sure about whether or not you’re entitled to a student loan refund, below are some of the reasons why you might be eligible for a refund:
- You’ve paid more than the total amount you owe
- Your annual income was below the threshold
- You started making repayments before you needed to
- You’ve repaid more than you need to because your employer had you on the wrong repayment plan
If you’ve voluntarily repaid some of the student loan, you cannot request a refund.
Follow further advice given by gov.uk on whether you can get a student loan refund.
Warning: students are prime targets for scammers and hackers, so make sure you’re aware of student loan scams and what to do if you’ve been scammed.
How to submit a student loan refund request
Asking for a student loan refund is a lot simpler than you might think. In fact, it’s basically as simple as just submitting a student loan refund request — that’s literally it.
Here is how to submit a student loan refund request:
- Sign into your student loan account
- You should land on a page showing “Your Balance” — how much you owe.
- Below your balance, there should be a “Request a refund” link, click on that and it will take you to a page with your bank details and email address.
- Click “Send refund request” and that’s it.
- If you don’t see your bank details on this page or they’re wrong, you have to contact SLC and update your details
Now, you wait. It can take up to 28 days for your student loan refund request to be processed. You’ll receive emails when your refund request has gone through, how much you’ll get and then when it’s on its way to you.
You can also request a student loan refund over the phone:
The Student Loans Company
- Telephone: 0300 100 0611 (England, Northern Ireland or Scotland)
- Telephone: +44 (0)141 243 3660 (outside the UK)
- Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
- Telephone: 0300 100 0370 (Wales)
- Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (not open on bank holidays)
Mikaela Bartlett, senior SEO writer for us at Student Beans’ talks about her experience with requesting a student loan refund and how simple it was:
“I rang up the Student Loans Company when I saw on TikTok that people were getting refunds from overpaying their student loan. I had absolutely zero hopes going into it (and actually wondered if I’d paid too little!), but they told me I had overpaid by £383! The overpayment gets re-added to your student loan balance but at this rate I’ll never pay it off anyway, so the cash injection was a great Christmas gift top-up and was so simple to do!”
Well, that beats the £15 refund I got.
How long does student loan refund take?
As mentioned, the SLC will aim to process refunds in around 28 days once you’ve submitted a student loan refund request.
You’ll receive a confirmation email to give you peace of mind that they’ve got your refund request.
You’ll get a separate email a little while later stating that your student loan refund request is being processed, and at this point they should let you know how much you can expect to be refunded to you.
You should get a final email after this, stating that your refund is on its way and that it will appear in your bank account within 3 to 5 working days.
Overwhelmed by student loans and all things finance? Read our student finance guide for all your questions answered.
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