Money Box Live: Student Loan Debate
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Student loans and their impact on graduates’ finances have dominated the news recently. The average student debt in England for 2024 graduates was approximately £53,000, with repayments being made when salaries hit a certain threshold set by the government.
But, the finer details on who gets what and how it's all repaid varies vastly depending on when and where students study. Rules also differ vastly across the UK.
Recent campaigns have highlighted 'Plan 2' loans which focused on students in England who studied between September 2012 and July 2023 and the Chancellor's decision to freeze the salary threshold for repayments on these loans for three years, which means some graduates will now have to pay even more.
In this episode we'll discuss the rules for current students, past graduates, as well as how maintenance loans are worked out and what support might be available.
Joining Felicity Hannah is Tom Allingham from student money website, Save the Student and Graham Wright from the University of the West of England Bristol and National Association of Money Advisors.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson
(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 4th of February 2026)
Transcript
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| 0:09.4 | You're Dead to Me. We're the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Also from the BBC |
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| 0:31.2 | the very latest in history and loads of other good stuff, then listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.7 | Hello, student loans and their impact on a generation of graduates' finances |
| 0:41.0 | have dominated the headlines this last week. |
| 0:43.8 | Are student loans on fair? |
| 0:50.6 | Were millions of graduates miss sold their student loans? |
| 0:54.6 | It's a question many of them are asking now. |
| 0:56.5 | Having those hundreds of pounds would be so useful to me in saving for a house, saving for a wedding. |
| 1:03.8 | There's a growing anger, especially amongst those who have plan to student loans. |
| 1:08.3 | Now, they're the loans that have above inflation interest added on top. |
| 1:11.9 | This is BBC Radio 5 Live. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the student loan system is fair and reasonable. |
| 1:19.6 | Well, we're bringing the two plans in line with each other. I think that is fair and reasonable and freezing that rate for a couple of years. |
| 1:28.5 | Did you realise it was going to be like this? |
| 1:30.1 | I think the honest answer is no. |
| 1:32.2 | How come then? |
| 1:33.1 | Ultimately, I was 17. |
| 1:34.7 | But away from all the politics, in today's Moneybox Live podcast, we're looking at the impact on personal finance, the true cost of a degree and student loans, which are larger, longer-lasting and more expensive than many people expected. |
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