01 — YOUR SCENARIO

Tuition / yr — £9,790Maintenance / yr — £8,000Course length — 3 yrs (auto-set from degree, adjust if needed)

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 ↗

Salary assumption

P50 — median graduate earnings for this subject (DfE LEO 2023–24): £30,700 at graduation rising to £71,400 by year 10.

Both routes are compared at their median. Switch to see how the answer holds up if you land at the bottom or top of the range.

02 — THE VERDICT

GREEN

Economics clears its cost fast and the role isn't on the AI chopping block. Defensible investment.

No degree required to enter this field

Worth it (vs. no degree) after

8 yrs post-grad

Financial analyst / research assistant — from £22k at 18

Total borrowed at grad

£53,370

You will repay

£87,928

1.6× what you borrowed · cleared after 24 yrs

Balance after 20 yrs

£17,191

-68% paid down

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 (per year)

Loan balance (total owed)

Financial analyst / research assistant (no degree, per year)

Projected clear: loan fully repaid by year 24 post-grad, after paying £87,928 in repayments.

Salary data: DfE LEO 2023–24 median graduate earnings.

04 — YEAR-BY-YEAR BREAKDOWN

The material impact, spelled out: gross salary, take-home after the 9% graduate tax, and what's still owed — on Plan 5, written off after 40 years.

Year	Gross	Take-home	Repayment	Loan balance
Year 0	£31k	£25k	£513	£56k
Year 2	£39k	£30k	£1k	£58k +4%
Year 5	£51k	£38k	£2k	£59k +1%
Year 10	£71k	£48k	£4k	£53k -11%
Year 20	£87k	£55k	£6k	£17k -67%
Year 30	£106k	£72k	—	Clear −100%

05 — AI-RESILIENCE

6/10

automation exposure for Economics

Confidence: Medium

Economics graduates concentrate in finance, consulting and policy — sectors with high AI productivity gains but where senior judgment and client relationships remain distinctly human.

06 — WHAT THE 9% ADDS UP TO

You will repay £87,928 over 40 years on Plan 5. That is the headline number — but money has a time value, and these are the same repayments valued as if invested instead, in a LISA (£4k/yr cap + 25% government bonus) with a Stocks & Shares ISA above it.

This is a yardstick for the size of the graduate tax, not a plan you can act on — almost nobody gets the degree without the loan, and you cannot opt out of the 9%. Read it as what the repayment stream is worth in economic terms, which is rather more than the £87,928 of cash it looks like. It is also not money the no-degree route would have: that path earns less to begin with. Whether the degree beats not going is the figure at the top of this page.

Assumes a 6% average annual return (long-run mid-point for a diversified stocks & shares portfolio, historically ranging ~4–8%/yr) — not guaranteed.

Year	LISA (+25% bonus)	Stocks & Shares ISA
Year 10	£32,833	£0
Year 20	£124,703	£9,488
Year 30	£249,318	£25,297

07 — SUMMARY

WORTH IT

Economics pays back fast and carries medium risk automation exposure. On the numbers, this clears the bar as a genuine wealth-building investment rather than a lifetime tax.

TAKE IT WITH YOU

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THE NO-DEGREE ROUTE

Every figure above compares Economics against financial analyst / research assistant, starting around £22k at 18. If that route interests you, these are the official entry paths — apprenticeships, college courses and direct application, with the GCSE and A-level requirements for each.

How to become one ↗National Careers Service — entry routes and requirements Find an apprenticeship ↗GOV.UK — live vacancies you can apply to now

Both are government services. Degree Index is not affiliated with either and earns nothing from these links.

Is a Economics Degree Worth It?