It doesn't work like a normal loan. So if you make below 20k a year, then you don't pay anything. But you are not "missing" payments or anything like that, it's just that you make less than 20k, so literally nothing is due. If the balance after 40 years(or whatever it is) is still not zero, then the remainder is forgiven by the government. Paying off the student loan has no effect on your credit score as it doesn't even show on credit checks.

My student loan for getting a BSc and MSc in Computer Science at one of the top universities in the UK is about ~12k total. But it's reassuring to know that if I lost my job tomorrow, I wouldn't have any payments to make until I found another job.

I suppose the economic theory here is that they enriched the population and hopefully kept someone in a line of employment that's beneficial to society instead of nose-diving in to drugs, crime, or some other 'drain on society'?

Nothing - under the current rules the Government writes off the debt after a number of years (either when you turn 65, after 25, 30 or 35 years, depending on when you got the loan and where in the UK you went to Uni). Also, having a student loan has little to no effect on obtaining bank loans or mortgages.

> if you started higher education between 1998 and 2011 your "post-98"-type of loan does not show up on credit reference agencies.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/sep/24/student-loan-a...

(I don't believe it's changed since)