Student loans are in crisis lowe 100K
Evening Standard|August 07, 2024
Arecent report found almost two million UK graduates are drowning in student loans. Emma Loffhagen speaks to young people who are struggling to pay off their extortionate debts
Emma Loffhagen
Student loans are in crisis lowe 100K

IN 2017, when Nuala, then 18, from west London, got into Leeds University to study architecture, she didn’t give too much thought to taking out a student loan.

“It’s just part of the process of going to uni, everyone does it, so you don’t really think that deeply about it,” she tells me from Cambridge, where she is completing the final year of her integrated masters. “I just signed up. For most people, it’s the only option.”

Fast forward almost seven years, and Nuala, now 25, owes just over £93,000 to the Student Loans Company and she still hasn’t finished her degree.

“You inspired me to log in [to Student Finance England] and check the balance today,” she says. “I just looked and it and laughed. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry. I always used to make jokes like, ‘I’ll be in £100k of debt when I leave uni’, but now seeing that that’s actually true… that’s a whole house deposit of debt, it’s crazy.”

Nuala is one of 1.8 million students who are in at least £50,000 of UK student debt, according to a BBC investigation last month.

The report also found that more than 61,000 have balances of above £100,000, according to figures from the Student Loans Company (SLC), while another 50 people owe upwards of £200,000.

In 2012, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government tripled the tuition fee cap, raising it to £9,250 a year (despite the Lib Dems having famously built their 2010 election campaign around a pledge to abolish tuition fees). England now has the highest undergraduate tuition fees in the developed world, according to the OECD.

Student loan terms have also been made less favourable — interest rates now sit at almost eight per cent for anyone who started university between 2012 and 2022, and the loan cancellation date was increased first to 30 and now 40 years after graduation.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 07, 2024-Ausgabe von Evening Standard.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 07, 2024-Ausgabe von Evening Standard.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS EVENING STANDARDAlle anzeigen
The era of longevity is almost upon us. But can our minds really keep up?
The London Standard

The era of longevity is almost upon us. But can our minds really keep up?

A post-ageing world is just around the corner, says longevity scientist AUBREY DE GREY, and it’s going to change the way we live

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
Hidden London
The London Standard

Hidden London

SECRET SPOTS YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO DISCOVER

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
How Christian Louboutin fell in love with Melides in Portugal
The London Standard

How Christian Louboutin fell in love with Melides in Portugal

The wild beauty of this seaside village charmed the French fashion designer so much that he made it his home

time-read
5 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
Actor Millie Bobby Brown romances in Hyde Park, feasts at Sheesh and buys thelot at Harrods
The London Standard

Actor Millie Bobby Brown romances in Hyde Park, feasts at Sheesh and buys thelot at Harrods

Interview with Actor Millie Bobby Brown

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
How will Arteta manage without influential Edu?
The London Standard

How will Arteta manage without influential Edu?

Arsenal need smooth transition between eras just like Man City

time-read
2 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
"I had no one in Manchester apart from my PlayStation"
The London Standard

"I had no one in Manchester apart from my PlayStation"

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was a young man rated among the country's most promising footballers when Manchester United came calling in the summer of 2019.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
The battle for the soul of Soho
The London Standard

The battle for the soul of Soho

Inside the war between London's porn baron family and the council they say is killing the vibe

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
At the table: Sad steaks seasoned with despair
The London Standard

At the table: Sad steaks seasoned with despair

Fetch the smelling salts, you're in for a shock: A Restaurant Critic Hates a Famously Terrible Restaurant. Low-hanging fruit? Perhaps.

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
Class portrait Nobody else writes about middle England so acutely
The London Standard

Class portrait Nobody else writes about middle England so acutely

Tessa Hadley's first novella depicts women in refreshing ways

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024
How a tiny cult radio station in Hackney took over the world
The London Standard

How a tiny cult radio station in Hackney took over the world

I think the most obscure place I've had a listener email from so far was probably a guy in the Yukon,\" laughs Flo Dill, the host of NTS Radio's flagship morning show.

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 07, 2024