Your 30-year debt lifecycle and AI-resilience risk, calculated.
01 — YOUR SCENARIO
Selected: Chemistry · typical course length 3 yrs
Repayment plan
For students starting Sept 2023 onward · threshold £25,000 from April 2026 · interest RPI (3.2%) · written off after 40 yrs · gov.uk ↗
02 — THE VERDICT
YELLOW
Chemistry pays back eventually, but slower than it should — and automation risk isn't negligible.
Break-even point
9 yrs post-grad
Total borrowed at grad
£51,750
Balance after 20 yrs
£61,551
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03 — SALARY VS. LOAN BALANCE
Yearly gross salary against your loan balance — rising with interest, falling with repayments, until it's cleared or written off.
Y0Y15Y30
Gross salary
Loan balance
Still £48,148 owed at year 30 — written off entirely at year 40 under Plan 5, after paying £106,863 in repayments.
04 — YEAR-BY-YEAR BREAKDOWN
The material impact, spelled out: gross salary, take-home after the 9% graduate tax, and what's still owed.
Year
Gross
Take-home
Repayment
Loan balance
Year 0
£27k
£23k
£189
£54k
Year 2
£32k
£26k
£585
£57k +5%
Year 5
£38k
£30k
£1k
£60k +6%
Year 10
£45k
£34k
£2k
£63k +5%
Year 20
£55k
£40k
£3k
£62k -3%
Year 30
£67k
£46k
£4k
£48k -22%
🔒 Years 10 / 20 / 30 unlock with the full report
05 — DEGREE PATH VS. ALTERNATIVE PATH
Chemistry doesn't strictly require a degree to enter. Cumulative net earnings, degree route vs. direct work / apprenticeship — the crossover is the moment the degree route pulls ahead.
Y0Y15Y30
Degree path (cumulative)
Alternative path (cumulative)
Crosses over at year 12 (9 yrs post-grad)
06 — AI-RESILIENCE
LOW RISK
automation exposure for Chemistry
Confidence: High. Full driver analysis of task-level automation exposure for this role, sourced from occupational risk modelling.