The repayment scheme of the Student Loan system was designed to allow students to make monthly payments in proportion to their incomes.
For the first two years when your repayment obligation applies, your monthly repayment is based on the minimum wage. The amount you have to pay during this period is 6% of the minimum wage as of 31 October in the previous year.
From the third year of repayment your monthly repayment is calculated based on the income you earned two years before. In 2011 those who are at least in their third year of repayment have to pay 1/12th of the 6% of the income they earned in 2009 every month. However, those who had hardly any or no income two years earlier still have to pay at least 6% of the minimum wage in the previous year. (A different percentage applies to those who have taken out HUF 50,000 per month.)
As the amount of the monthly repayment may change every year, loan recipients are informed through a newsletter about the amount of their monthly payments in the following year by 15 December every year.
In the case of income-contingent repayment, all income data required to determine the instalment amount are provided to the Student Loan Centre by the National Tax and Customs Administration.
Calculation of the monthly amount to be paid by loan recipients who receive HUF 50,000 per month
Students who attend a fee-paying course and have taken out the highest amount of loan (HUF 50,000) at least once will have to pay every month
- 1/12th of the 8% of the minimum wage in the first and second year of repayment, and
- 1/12th of the 8% of the income they earned two years earlier from the third year of repayment
In the latter case the amount of monthly payment must be at least 8% of the minimum wage of the previous year, even if the loan recipient had hardly any or no income two years earlier.
Note: According to an amendment to a governmental decree effective as of 13 February 2009, those with jobseeking parents, orphans, and students with one living parent who is a jobseeker, can apply for HUF 50,000 per month if they study on a state-funded course and HUF 60,000 per month if they attend a fee-paying course, for a maximum of two terms. Read more about the topic here!
Please be advised that if you opt for the higher amount, you automatically agree to pay a higher regular repayment. This amount is 8% (for state-funded students) or 9% (for self-financed students) of the minimum wage in the previous year for the first two years of repayment. For the third year on, the repayment is the same percentage of their average monthly incomeof two years before (or, if their income is lower than the minimum wage, it is still the minimum wage).
