Student loans punish ambition
I come from a low-income background. Throughout high school and sixth form, I was always told that university paved the way for opportunity and success.
If you wanted stability, progression and a meaningful career, higher education was the route. I enjoyed academia, and I aspired to be a history teacher. Reaching my goals and ambitions inevitably meant going to university.
At the time, I didn’t realise I was the first in my family to attend university. What I did know was that there was no way I could afford the fees, which stood at a jaw-dropping £9,000 per year. Student Finance was presented as the solution.
The application process was straightforward, almost reassuring. What wasn’t explained was the long-term reality of what I was signing up to. During my second year, I was diagnosed with autism. From that point on, accessing the support I needed became increasingly difficult.
Despite achieving high grades, and without going into unnecessary detail, I didn’t finish my course. I left university with a Diploma of Higher Education rather than a degree. But while my studies ended, the debt did not. This is where the idea that student loans “only matter if you earn well” begins to unravel.
Even without a degree, I am still tied to a system that continues to grow my debt year after year. Looking at my student loan account, the numbers tell a stark story. Last year, I repaid £1,210 through my salary. In the same year, £1,787.55 was added in interest.
Despite doing exactly what the system asks of me, my balance increased. At the time of writing, my total student loan debt stands at £63,050.92. And the uncomfortable truth is that my case is far from extreme.
It is increasingly common to hear of people carrying balances of £80,000, £90,000, even £100,000 or more. This is not an outlier problem; it is a structural one. Student loans are often framed as fair and affordable because repayments are linked to income.
But that framing ignores how the system actually operates in practice. Repayment thresholds have been frozen while wages and living costs rise, pulling more people into repayment earlier in their careers and on lower incomes.
At the same time, high interest rates mean that many borrowers see their balances grow even while they repay. For those from wealthier backgrounds, the risks are softened by family support or the ability to clear the debt early. For those from low-income backgrounds, ambition comes with a long-term financial penalty.
The message is subtle but clear: take the risk of education, and you may carry the cost for decades, regardless of outcome. Education should be an engine for social mobility. It should encourage aspiration, not deter it.
A system that leaves people repaying for most of their working lives, often without ever reducing what they owe, does not reward ambition. It punishes it.
If we genuinely want young people from all backgrounds to aim high, then we need a student finance system that supports opportunity rather than turning it into a lifelong burden.
Tom Howard is a multi-award winning disability rights campaigner.
