More than a third of people now believe a degree isn’t worth the time and money it costs, and with farcical interest rates meaning student debt is rising faster than it can be paid off, graduates are furious. Or they would be, if they had the emotional bandwidth.
The thing about debt, you see, is that it takes a psychological toll as well as a financial one – demanding all of your energy just to keep your head above water.
I graduated more than a decade ago – and when I took out my own student loans back in 2011, as a feckless 18-year-old, I barely registered it as a decision. Today, I thank my lucky stars for two key reasons. Firstly, the fact that the money I was borrowing was on Plan 1 meant that my university tuition cost me just over £3,000 a year, rather than the £9,000 annual sum inflicted on those doing the exact same thing a year later (the Plan 2 scheme ran from September 2012 to July 2023).
Secondly, I am grateful for the financial nonchalance afforded to me and others like me at the time. Sure, between maintenance and tuition, I was borrowing tens of thousands of pounds before I’d even left home – yet the low interest rates and high repayment thresholds meant it never felt like a burden.
