An almighty student debt reckoning has arrived
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Times’ Money desk has been investigating the UK’s student debt system – and has discovered some bombshells. After being promised a loan that would be like paying a ‘phone bill every month’, graduates are weighed down by tens of thousands of pounds in ever-increasing debt. So how did we get here? And is there a plan to fix it?
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Guest: Mary Downer, Money reporter, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Sophie McNulty.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:10.0 | I will describe student loans like a tumour. You need to nip them in the bud before they get too big. But no one's able to do that. And then they just grow and grow and grow until there's this horrible looming thing over you. |
| 0:23.4 | Big, cumbersome student loans are back in the headlines |
| 0:26.5 | and with it, angry graduates. |
| 0:29.5 | I've actually just logged in to my student finance account |
| 0:32.5 | and it's now 52,000 in nine years. |
| 0:36.5 | So that's great. My debt currently stands at just over 55,000 pounds. |
| 0:40.5 | My loan is now over 62,000 pounds. But my debt now stands at just over 75,000 pounds. |
| 0:46.7 | So 79,76, 75 pence. And the debt continues. |
| 0:52.4 | Many are chasing ballooning debts and their repayments are being outstripped by the interest. |
| 0:58.8 | I can honestly say that I was 18 and I had just finished school and I wasn't looking at interest rates. |
| 1:04.8 | We were sold to student loan system on the basis of don't worry. |
| 1:07.3 | You won't need to pay it back if you don't earn enough. |
| 1:09.1 | But there was never any consideration of what if you do earn enough for it to make a significant dent in your salary, |
| 1:13.3 | but very little dent in the loan itself. They're paying more than any student generation before, |
| 1:19.1 | and later this spring, it's about to get a bit more expensive. It's rubbish that it doesn't |
| 1:24.6 | affect your mortgage. It does disincentivise me to increase my salary more, and my marginal tax rate is now 51%. |
| 1:30.3 | Student loans have a massive impact on my security, my ability to save to buy a home and to put down roots. |
| 1:37.3 | The governments over the last decades have repeatedly chosen to protect older generations from the costs of ageing and retirement, |
| 1:43.3 | whilst ignoring |
| 1:44.3 | the financial burden on those starting out in their careers. |
| 1:48.5 | Our essay question, how has this happened? Why has this happened? And to what extent is it fair? 20 marks, |
... |
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