“I don’t think I’ll ever pay it off”
A doctor has told the BBC that interest has already added more than £25,000 to his student loan and he fears he will never clear it. Medical degrees are long, so the balance is large and the interest accrues from the first term — and under the current rules the balance keeps growing for years even while repayments are made. It is the clearest illustration of why the system produces anger even where it is working as designed.
The Conservatives promise to cut loan interest
The Conservative Party has said it would cut the interest charged on student loan repayments. It is an opposition commitment rather than a policy in force, and the detail — whether it applies to existing borrowers, and what happens to the threshold — is what would decide whether it helps anyone currently repaying. Worth watching rather than counting on.
“Employers need skin in the game”
Readers argue that if graduate skills are what employers want, employers should contribute to the cost of producing them, rather than the burden falling on students through fees and on the state through unrepaid loans. It is the one funding idea in this month’s argument that does not involve taking more from graduates.
How to start, when the year is suddenly half gone
A piece for the point in February when the halfway mark passes and the deadlines become real: how to start a piece of work you have been avoiding, which is almost always a problem of scale rather than motivation. Time management covers the rest of the term.