The Treasury Select Committee of MPs opened an inquiry into England’s student loan system on Tuesday, hearing evidence from student organisations and experts against a backdrop of record public skepticism about the value of a university degree.
The British Social Attitudes survey, published Tuesday, found that 34% of people in 2025 agreed a degree “just isn’t worth the amount of time and money,” the BBC reported. That figure has more than doubled from 14% in 2005 and is the highest recorded in two decades of the survey. At the same time, only 36% of respondents believed graduates are “a lot better off” in the long run, down from 50% in 2005.
The inquiry will hear from graduates about the size of their debts and the interest rates on the income-contingent loans that students in England have used to fund tuition and living costs since 2012.
The National Union of Students said the inquiry should examine the earnings threshold at which graduates begin repaying their loans and the interest rates applied. More than 50,000 people submitted written evidence to MPs, with many explaining they did not understand the terms of their loans at the time of taking them out, according to the BBC.
Alex Stanley of the NUS said the freeze on the repayment threshold — set to be held at £29,385 from April 2027 for three years — should be reversed. He also called for a longer-term “course correction” to avoid a generation being unable to buy a home or start a family.
The freeze means more graduates will start repaying earlier, since the threshold is not rising with earnings. Graduates in England pay 9% of any income above the threshold.
One of the graduates who contacted the BBC, Gemma, who now works in tech and earns just under £50,000 a year, described her experience with a Plan 2 loan taken out between 2012 and 2023. Her balance upon graduating in 2016 was £34,105; her latest statement shows £41,908, as accumulating interest outstrips her monthly repayments. She said the loan has contributed to her decision to delay having children with her partner because, although she would not repay during maternity leave, interest would still accrue.
” It feels like I’m constantly chasing a debt that gets bigger over time; it feels like climbing a mountain,” Gemma told the BBC.
At the end of 30 years, any unpaid loan balance is written off and effectively borne by the taxpayer.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said data shows graduates “are more likely to have a job, earn more and have better health.” She said a university education “doesn’t just benefit the individual. If we want our country to grow, we need more graduates entering the labour market.”
The government has defended the current system, saying it protects lower-earning graduates by linking repayments to income and writing off unpaid balances after three decades. In a statement, it said: “We recognise that some graduates have concerns about the cost of student loan repayments and understand why this is an important issue.” It noted that it has raised the graduate repayment threshold for the first time since 2021, capped the plan 2 interest rate at 6%, and restored some targeted maintenance loans.
The graduate campaign group Rethink Repayment has argued the threshold freeze violates the original terms of the loans, according to the BBC.