![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.tesyouth.org\/t\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Students.jpg\")
Former students will be able to earn more before they have to start paying back their tuition fee loans.<\/p>\n Former students will be able to earn more before they have to start paying back their tuition fee loans.<\/p>\n
English and Welsh students who took out loans from September 2012 onwards – when fees in England rose to up to \u00a39,000 a year – will now start to pay back when they earn \u00a325,000 a year instead of \u00a321,000.<\/p>\n
The government says the move could save graduates up to \u00a3360 a year.
\nThe National Union of Students said the change was “welcome relief” for many.<\/p>\n
Are you paying off a student loan? Join BBC News’s Affordable Living Facebook group here.<\/p>\n
Who will benefit?<\/strong> Previously, the repayment threshold for post-September 2012 loans had been frozen at \u00a321,000 until 2020-21, but last autumn Prime Minister Theresa May announced a rise in the threshold from this new financial year.<\/p>\n The change will also lower the repayments of those earning over \u00a325,000, as the percentage of salary paid back will be on a smaller amount.<\/p>\n Research carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies<\/a> found raising the repayment threshold to \u00a325,000 benefits middle-earning graduates the most, saving them up to \u00a315,700 in repayments over their lifetimes.<\/p>\n Lower-earning graduates, who are likely to earn below the threshold for a significant part of their career, will see a smaller reduction in lifetime repayments, the IFS calculates.<\/p>\n While high-earning graduates – who would repay their loans in full – will see a reduction in yearly repayments, this will merely extend the period of time for which they have to repay and so will make little difference to their lifetime repayments. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Department for Education says some 600,000 graduates will benefit over the next financial year alone.<\/p>\n