When Lizzy, Libby and Charlotte met as freshers in 2012, their main responsibility was making it to lectures on time after early morning sports practice. Their student debt, growing with interest from the day they took out their loans, was the last thing on their minds. "The conversation was just so much less relevant at that time," says Charlotte.
"As our careers have gone on and our paths have diverged more and more... those conversations start to come more to the forefront." The friends, now in their early 30s, went to the University of Newcastle in the same year tuition fees tripled to £9,000 a year in England and Wales, and new loans called Plan 2 were introduced. Each borrowed about £37,500 to cover three years of tuition and living costs. This year marks a decade since the first students in their year started repaying.
They may have started out in the same position, but over that time their career trajectories, life choices and earnings have shaped how much they've repaid, how much interest they've racked up, and how much they owe - with very different outcomes. Student loans have come under scrutiny this year and there's been a particular backlash over Plan 2 loans. The government has said it wants to make the whole system fairer and campaigners are waiting to see what, if anything, changes in this month's Budget.
The anger about Plan 2 grew after the government announced updated terms in November. The income at which graduates start repaying is set to be frozen for three years, meaning graduates would start making payments sooner and pay more each month. But it has also been brewing because the interest rate is higher than most other student loan plans, and many have seen their debts rise despite making monthly repayments.
"Since April this year, I've paid off in the region of £450 and I've accrued over £500 in interest," says Charlotte, a physiotherapist in Bristol. She did a master's degree after uni and worked in the NHS before moving to the private sector. She earns about £50,000, but her loan is still going up.
"It makes me angry... it's just disheartening." All three friends earn above the national average of £39,039. But research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, external in February suggests Plan 2 graduates need to earn about £63,000 or more for a loan balance of £50,000 to start going down. "I just had no concept that the debt was going to go up," says Libby, who remembers being in tears when her first student loan letter came through after graduating.
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