Scrap the failed loan system

Daniel Bassey, York Socialist Students

In college, I was told that you could afford to go to university, no matter your personal background. And that loan repayment was merely an extra ‘tax’, that would be offset by the higher-paying job opportunities that a degree could offer.

I wasn’t told that in 2023, the loan repayment threshold had lowered from £29,000 to £25,000. Meaning that the annual amount repaid jumped from roughly £50 to £453, on an average graduate salary.

Recent headlines around loans being ‘missold’ point at the crushing reality of fees and debt faced by ambitious young students, with no other choice but to bite the bullet.

The system hasn’t always worked this way. In 1977, student fees were funded entirely by government, with a modest maintenance grant too!

This funding system was threatened under Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government. But due to the backlash from students, nothing changed until 1998.

Then, Tony Blair’s Labour government introduced an upfront fee of £1,000 a year. Labour tripled tuition fees in the 2000s.

And the Tory-Lib Dem coalition tripled fees again in 2012. Annual tuition fees are set to rise to over £10,000 next year.

While some have the ability to pay, the reality for many students is that tuition fees are unaffordable. A typical working-class student has parents unable to provide maintenance support. With most loan money going on rent, we’re forced to pick up a part-time job alongside full-time university, affecting our studies.

Graduates are rarely able to pay off the £50,000 in debt. Instead, many pay until it is written off after 40 years!

The loan system is a failed, predatory, capitalist solution to the higher education funding crisis. Further increases to student fees are completely unaffordable, and do nothing to address uni budget deficits.

Courses are being cut, staff laid off, and our universities continue to tumble down international rankings. Socialist Students calls to end the market-based fee model, and for a free, fully funded higher education system.