DEGREEINDEX

Career route

Do you need a degree to be a user researcher?

No

A common destination for psychology graduates, and reachable from research or service-design roles without one.

The official route in

The National Careers Service publishes the entry routes for this job — apprenticeship, college, university and direct application — with the GCSE and A-level requirements for each. It is the authoritative source, and worth reading before committing to anything.

If you do take the degree route

The closest subject is Psychology. On current fees and median graduate earnings, here is what it costs and how long it takes to pay for itself against not going at all.

Worth it after

12 yrs post-grad

Borrowed

£53,370

You will repay

£63,402

Starting salary

£22,700

The short answer is our reading of the entry routes, written conservatively — where a non-degree path exists at all, we say so. The National Careers Service profile is the authoritative source and should be your check before deciding. User researcher earnings shown here are for Psychology graduates, not for this job specifically.