Student finance calculator

Pupils in Year 13 are making their decisions about whether to apply to university and which one they should choose.

One of the big issues this year is the new financing system, which will apply to students starting courses from September 2012.

BBC News has designed a calculator to give students repaying loans under the new system an idea of how much it may cost them to pay off their student loans. The new repayment system applies in England and Wales - there is more detail on fees and loans around the UK here.

The calculator uses estimates of predicted lifetime earnings based on the career areas people are considering pursuing, their age and sex.

All the figures are based on averages, so low and high earners in a particular category would pay different amounts to those given by the calculator. The earnings figures are for all employees, not just graduates, because graduate-only figures are not available. The calculator is designed to provide a general illustration of cost of financing in various scenarios, rather than to give precise predictions of how much individuals will have to pay.

The figures are all in 2011 money, so reflect how much particular amounts of money are worth to you today.