The Times newspaper launched an End the Graduate Rip-Off campaign, and the popular consumer finance journalist Martin Lewis has made it a cause, questioning the morality of the freeze.
“It’s a complete mess,” said National Union of Students (NUS) Vice President for Higher Education Alex Stanley, whose members recently held a protest outside parliament dressed as sharks.
“The fault initially may not be theirs, but the responsibility is absolutely now theirs,” he said of the Labour government, arguing the backlash poses an “opportunity as much as it is a threat” to Starmer.
“We’ve got a system that is costing students so much money that it risks putting off prospective students,” he warned.
“This is a very real burden on young people when it comes to the cost of living,” says Curtis. The repayments are a “deep cause of the economic insecurity that many younger graduates are facing” as they try buying their first home, he adds.
Curtis supports a graduate tax, where university leavers would pay extra tax when they start earning with lower repayments, but in the near-term at least wants ministers to increase the threshold for loan repayments.