Gina Tindale is just 22 years old, but she is already in a debt hole of £91,867 and 80 pence (to be precise). Tindale owes the Student Loans Company enough money to buy herself a Porsche 718 Cayman GTS or put down a 34 per cent deposit on the average UK home. In the last four months alone, the total amount owed has risen by £1,900 – an increase she describes bluntly as “aggressive”. Only 6 per cent of Plan 2 graduates like Tindale can afford to pay off their loans at a high-enough rate to keep up with the rising interest and actually reduce the amount owed.
The reason Tindale has such a high level of debt – made up of tuition fees and maintenance loans – she explains, is because she is from a working-class, lower-income background and her family were unable to provide financial help for her to attend university. “So, if I wanted to go, I had to take out that loan.” She was the first in her family to enter higher education.
For generations, the issue of astronomical student costs and debts has seemed like an exclusively American problem. Yes, student loans in the UK were sizeable, but nothing like what was happening across the pond. But, recent data from the Student Loans Company has shown there are now over 150,000 people in Britain who owe over £100,000. And the highest maximum individual debt? An astonishing £314,000.
