Hmm. I'm from Scotland so the rules have changed so much i am not sure what's what. However - i was means tested on my own merit as I was financialy independent from my parents for a certain period of time. That allowed my fees to be paid by the government or the university. living and expenses for the course had to be met by myself and that necessitated loans. My loan repayment % is at 7% or so at the moment which is more than the 3% I had started with.
Anything over £833 a month is liable for loan deduction. I find it manageable but will still be paying the remainder for some time to come. I don't see much point in paying it off faster at this time because i have other debts with higher rates of interest. So I am dealing with them first and will tackle the student loan afterwards.
It doesn't affect my working life, apart from when the SLC (student loan company) is late in removing money from my PAYE - I move jobs a lot and they are slow to catch up, meaning paying it off is slower.
I wouldn't say the amount is "hardly noticeable" though, it is a fair chunk, especially when cost of living is getting higher.
Of course I'd love to be debt free but as loans go, it's not the worst you could have!

I am a current student receiving said student loan from the student loans company, and first of all can i just say how ridiculously disorganised the company is. I received my student loan only last weekend (only one month after my studies began) and the company has given me much less than i should be getting from them. I would normally qualify for a maintenance grant which is an extra non-repayable amount that is given due to household income which in my case adds up to close to another £3000 a year, this keeps me from needing to work whilst at uni allowing me to concentrate on my studies, which is very welcome i'm sure you can imagine. This year my parents have separated so i could receive more money from the loan company as part of my loan but it has taken me the best part of three months to try to get this fact into the thick skulls of said company. Only late last week did i manage to get out of them what sort of evidence i need to provide them to show that my parents are in fact separated and that my mother is no longer contributing to my household income! I can understand a company being reluctant to give money but this is a loan company for gods sake!

As far as debt goes, when i finish my three year course i will be in near enough £20,000 of it which is at least mildly worrying, and after the three years i plan to continue on and do a PGCE and go into teaching after a few years of which i will given the opportunity and (if my understanding is correct) do another year at uni to come out with a masters degree, god knows how much more debt that will collect, i daren't look! i'm just hoping i'll get some of it written off cos i want to teach!