Why has university become such a scam? | Zoe Williams

Graduates are leaving with an average debt of £53,000 – while entry-level jobs plummet. It’s time for politicians to stop burying their heads in the sand

It wasn’t in relation to university that I first came across the organisation Rethink Repayment, which campaigns for a fairer settlement on student debt. I was looking into the astronomical numbers of young people who still live with their parents. It’s now more than a third of young men and more than a fifth of young women, statistics which get even crunchier when you realise that “young” describes anyone under 35.

There were various reasons – some had gone home after a health crisis, some really liked their parents, some were battling unemployment, but the single unifying theme was student debt. Those on incomes too low to start repaying couldn’t make rent; those in the lower repayment bracket (an annual income of £25,000 or thereabouts, depending on your loan plan) still couldn’t make rent, because they were spending 9% of their income repaying. And those on more than £50,000 were keeping less than 50p in every pound they earn because of their marginal tax rate. It’s always been sold to students when they take on this debt that it won’t count against their mortgage raising capacity, which technically it won’t – but any affordability check by a mortgage company or letting agent will factor in the monthly repayments.

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