In the next few days, the government will decide on the interest rate on student loans for 2026. Ahead of the announcement, the Central Student Aid Board (CSN) has, as usual, made a forecast; the interest rate is now expected to end up at 2.135 percent, a slight increase from this year's 1.981 percent.
The increase may seem strange to many, given that the Riksbank has lowered the key interest rate on four occasions in 2025 and interest rates on mortgage loans have fallen significantly.
However, the CSN loan is calculated based on the borrowing costs of the last three years and not just a single year.
The high interest rate situation that we come from is still captured by the average calculation and that is especially the case in 2023, explains Patric Peippo, investigator at CSN's legal department.
In financial terms, however, it is not a huge economic change compared to the previous year. However, how much more it will cost per student loan is more complicated to calculate than, for example, the cost of a mortgage.
There are several factors that play into how much the individual borrower will pay on the loan. A person with 217,000 kronor in debt and 15 years before the repayment period is over will now have to pay 93 kronor more per month in 2026, he says.
In addition, those with student loans can take comfort in the fact that the worst is now considered to be over.
As it stands now, this is the peak and then it will turn downward. For 2027, the forecast is 2.051 percent, but then you have to keep in mind that it is not as certain as next year's forecast, says Patric Peippo.
The student loan must be repaid no earlier than 6 months after you last received student financial aid.
How much you pay each year is determined by four different factors:
The size of the loan amount.
How high the interest rate is.
How long to pay on the loan.
An increase of two percent per year at an unchanged interest rate.
The compounding rate means that the annual amount will increase slightly each year, if the borrower follows their payment plan and the interest rate is unchanged.
You have 25 years to repay the loan. It must be paid off in the year you turn 64, or 60, depending on when the loan was disbursed.
Source: CSN
