Toby Whelton, author of the analysis for the Intergenerational Foundation, a thinktank, warned the cost of paying for university education has skyrockete
Average earners are being told to repay £56,000 to the Student Loans Company under Andy Burnham's govermment - with the new Labour Party Prime Minister urged to act.
Toby Whelton, author of the analysis for the Intergenerational Foundation, a thinktank, warned the cost of paying for university education has skyrocketed. "The burden of student loans has never been higher. By stealth and with minimal democratic scrutiny, successive governments have piled costs on to young graduates in the hope that nobody would notice," said Whelton.
"Plan 5 in particular has received far too little attention. It is a ticking timebomb, set to detonate as today's students enter the workforce and confront repayment terms harsher than those faced by previous cohorts."
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Plan 5 is an English student loan repayment system for undergraduate and advanced learner courses starting on or after August 1, 2023. It requires graduates to pay 9% of their income above a £25,000 yearly threshold.
"We estimate that average earners under plan 5 will repay £56,240 over their lifetime, compared with £25,700 under plan 1," the report says.
Expected lifetime repayments for lower earners "have risen from £6,430 to £42,070", he added.
"What was always intended to be a cost-sharing system, in which the cost of university would be shared between the individual and the exchequer, now falls overwhelmingly on the individual," the report noted.
Lucy Powell, the new education secretary, has said that reviewing student loans is "very much at the top of my in-tray". Mr Burnham has faced calls to revoke the freeze on the repayment threshold.
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: "We know the system we inherited is broken and unfair, and some graduates feel the weight of this more strongly.
"We want to make sure the student loans system works better for everyone and are considering our response to the Treasury committee's inquiry."
A DfE spokesperson said in a statement: "Whatever young people want to do after they get their results, they should be proud of their efforts throughout their studies and take the time to consider the full range of options available to them."
