Everything Is Content - Everything In Conversation: Student Loans Or Student Scams?

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Hello EICaramels,As promised we're wading into the grim world of student loans, specifically the Plan 2 nightmare for UK students. Were we scammed aged 17/18 when we signed up to these loans? It's clear we weren't told that the terms i.e. the interest rates could change over time and significantly impact the amount we're paying back for the majority of our working lives. Thank you as always to everyone who messaged in for this one. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the episode and your loan situation. Love O,R,B xxxx---------Scandalous student debts are crushing the economyHow do student loans work and when are they written off? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth. I'm Ruchera. And I'm Anoni. And this is Everything in Conversation. Our midweek episode designed to lift your spirits and propel you to the Friday episode. Remember, if you want to take part in these extra episodes, just follow us on Instagram at Everything is Content Pod. That's where we decide on topics and ask for your opinions. So this week we are diving into the stressful, depressing, nightmarish world of student loans.

There's been quite a bit of reporting around the subject recently, and I think it's because, as from 26, tuition fees and maintenance loans in England will rise each year in line with inflation, meaning lots of students are likely to graduate with higher levels of debt. The interest rates are based on retail price index, or RPI, a measure that fluctuates, and the BBC reported that an increase at its October 2025 rate when the change was announced would see tuition fees rise by approximately £400 a year to more than £9,900. This month, the Telegraph also wrote a story titled, Scandalous Student Loans Are Crushing the Economy,

rocketing interest rates on loans, risk-leaving graduates and the country, with a £500 billion problem. The piece states that England's student finance system is a mess that is dragging on the entire economy, and in 2024-25, the total interest added to England's student loans was 15 billion pounds compared to just 5 billion pounds in repayments. They wrote, It will ultimately fall on the taxpayer to make up graduate debt

that is never going to be repaid, placing a greater burden on those in work. To make matters worse, student loans also failing at their basic purpose, funding education. Universities across the country are still fighting financial issues. The piece goes on to say that the very real fear of occurring huge levels of debt is impacting young people's desire to go to uni, workers' abilities to get on the property ladder and their desire to take on promotions,

as if they do, they'll just be repaying much more of their student loans. So I had to Google this because I actually forgot the details. I never think about student loans. I tried to forget about it. I just see the money go out. But I did look it up just for reassurance. Right now in England, students starting university in 2025 will see their loans written off after 40 years, regardless of how much they still owe.

in Wales and Scotland this happens after 30 years and in Northern Ireland it's after 25 years for us the balance is written off after 30 years after the first April you became eligible to pay if you're starting uni now that's 40 years that is a hefty toll that is a huge amount of your life we have so many messages about student loans everyone is so impacted by this it's a huge tax on their life what is your relationship to your student loan do you think about it do you ignore it does it cause you stress does this reporting about the interest rates, where are you as well? So I saw one of the initial tweets a few weeks ago from a doctor who was saying like my student loan, it's like exorbitant, I'll never be able to pay it off. And I was like, oh, my student loan,

haven't thought about that in a while. But because I'm self-employed and I pay my tax in January, I'm very conscious of knowing how much I'm paying. And it often does feel like quite a big sum on top of my tax. So I'll go have a look. I must have, you know, made a dent. And I had done, I did three years of uni, but I changed my course and I had to pay for four years. I don't know. I should probably have checked That was too late now. So I left, my original loan amount was 44,000. And as of recording, it's now 59,000.

And I've been making repayments for years, totaling thousands. And they've never once paid more than I have in interest. And I always knew that I probably wouldn't pay it back. But I'd not really paid close enough attention to actually kind of how scandalous this loan setup is until all of this reported starting, until all of this reporting started, especially due to the fact, like, the idea was that obviously people's wages would go up, higher earners would be able to afford to pay more, but with wage stagnation, inflation, austerity, all of the other factors that is putting, especially people on plan to, like our generation behind, it means you're kind of,

you're paying really high tax and not necessarily making that up in how much you're earning. in a real sense. That's a really convoluted way of saying that. So I've then taken like more of an interest and I added it up because I was like I would never be able to pay it off in a lump sum. But I was like, am I actually better off waiting? And basically over my lifetime, over the 30 years until it gets written off, I think I would have to pay 60K. So I'll pay the same if I paid it off now as I will do like over the course of my life. But what a lot of people say is this is a graduate tax. But where that's not necessarily true is there are people whose parents prepay. their uni fees up front and so they aren't taxed.

So I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that, oh, it's just a graduate tax. You know, it's a means for you getting into the workforce. It's a means if you're getting a degree. Because actually, the more money you borrow, the lower end you are, like the more money that you need, the more hamstrung you are by this debt and the amount of interest that you're actually going to pay on it. So all it does is it actually benefits those rich enough to pay their uni fees up front. They completely lose that, all of that interest.

They never have to pay that. and the more you borrow, the more you're going to pay back. And it is actually, when you really read the terms of the loan, it's unbelievable. It is actually so scandalous. And so I feel newly enraged about it, even though secretly I did kind of know that I wasn't really going to pay it off before it got written off. What about you, Beth? So before I talk about my own relationship to it, on the topic of it being graduate tax, we got a message from Hannah, which I think is probably one of the most eloquent meshes we've gotten.

I love the message, even if I hated the reality of it. And Hannah said, quote, it's another subtle and systemic headstart for those that had a privileged upbringing. If your parents are financially stable enough to pay for your tuition, you now pocket 9% more than your peers do. The interest is there to keep majority poor and make sure we never amount to more than where we came from, while the rich get richer and increase the wealth gap. The bank mom and dad stays undefeated. We are witnessing 2012 LeBron levels of dominance from Big Nepo. Amazing message, but also the reality of that is horrible.

It is a tax that applies to lower income students. and graduates from non-rich families, even if they go on to earn quote-unquote good money, if they get stuck in that sort of earning band where suddenly it's not really worth it because their repayments rock it up. It is, again, it's just a little tax. It feels on ambition, if you are from a low-income family, on hard work, on all the things that this country claims to be built on, which absolutely is not. So I really loved that message.

My own relationship to it is the same. I just, for so many years, I put it in the back of the freezer of my mind, labeled it dead dove do not e didn't want to touch it because I knew I'm not paying this off in any I'm not paying the interest of this off so the number is going up somewhere deep in the vault of student finance my debt is just ticking upwards and upwards and I just didn't want to think about it but I do think it is worth I'm really glad we're doing this episode and I do think it is worth at least knowing where you stand and joining the conversation because it is a changing conversation more people than ever are just

speaking up and going this is getting ridiculous something needs to be done So I do think it's better to kind of know what's happening with that figure, even if it's a hopeless situation as it is for me. I will just keep paying money to pay money. I will pay money to owe more money, which is depressing. But I do feel better actually just knowing that and living in reality. Ruchera, what about you? I felt really seen by the people who were talking about the way student loan was talked about when we were younger was that it. you know, you'll barely notice the repayments. It's not a big deal. Everyone does it. It never was

spoken about in the same way that getting your first credit card was, which is I was in panic. I only got my first credit card like two years ago because I was so scared of it because people talk about that with the gravitas. They didn't speak about student loans with. And I know they are different things, but actually the I did a piece recently and I need to read this. So I'm not saying, you know, how they answered it. But they were talking about do repayments on your student loans affects your credit score. So I will read that and report back for next week's episode. But, you know, these are not small things. They are really hefty life choices. I've never made a life choice that equals the amount of time I have dedicated to a student loan. I am in a relationship. I am going to

get married. That will probably be the second thing. But that is the biggest commitment I have in my life, which is crazy to think about because I made that choice when I was 17 slash 18. And we had quite a few messages talking about this as well. Brianie message and said, I didn't. didn't check my balance for years as it was just coming out of my paycheck and I didn't think it required my attention. Then I was flawed to find out that I actually just had been paying off the interest due to not having a very high salary. The thing that got to me was when I was 17 years old being pressured from all angles to go to university because that's what you quote unquote should do. I was totally under the assumption that the amount to be repaid remained the

same. I had no idea about the interest. I think having 17 year olds agree to lifelong substantial debt that increases with interest to be such an insane and irresponsible move from both the government and from the teachers advocating for it. You would never ever have that situation being pushed onto teenagers outside of education. And yeah, I think that's what I'm sitting with at the moment. Yeah, I agree. And we had a message from Emily that said, if these were zero interest loans, it wouldn't be anywhere near the value it is now. And it might actually motivate me to pay it down if it felt like something I could feasibly do. But there's no planet on which I managed to pay this loan off and it just feels like an incredibly unfair tax on me for wanting to better my education.

And I was talking to my sister about this and she was Tabagasta because when she went to uni, she's a doctor, but her uni was three grand a term and I think much lower interest. So she was like, I think I've paid it off. And my other sister moved to Australia years ago. She was also on the three grand a year and I think hers was Britain off. So they voted quite well. But I think like the biggest scandal really is the fact that we would, is the nine grand thing when you really, think about it, especially because I was doing English, my contact hours were sometimes like five hours a week. And I hadn't realized that at the beginning when they introduced that, that the government, it was like an option to put it up to nine grand. And then every uni just

decided across the board that it's going to be nine grand. And I think that there's this one idea that yes, it got lots more people to go into education. But I actually didn't realize how much of the scam was. Like much like you were chair, like I really thought that this was kind of free money. They really hammered home that you won't notice this at all. And I have, I've always known that it was like a long-term loan. And as someone, I'm not that financially literate. So it did take me being explained to for me to be as cross as I am about it now. But the more that people explain that if this was like any other loan,

all of the things that they do with it would like basically not be legal. Like they keep changing the terms of the loan. The way that it scales is different from any other loan. But Alice said, seeing as a tax help me so much. I might pay it forever. I might not. But it's always been there and it will be for the foreseeable. The value of interest is literally none of my business.

So if it didn't exist or was just a tax, I would see it the exact same. And I think maybe that is the way that we have to frame it. But like I said, I have newly enraged information about this. And so I have changed my mind. That is how I used to see it. I agree. And I think on a personal level, it makes sense because you have, you know, there is no way around this but to pay it and to go and paying it. And so seeing it's a tax makes total sense.

I think where this conversation has gone that has re-energized me is talking about this as like a much bigger and brewing financial crisis. So I read in this piece, between 2022 and 2022 and 2024 and 2025, the amount of student debt getting written off, e.g. after the threshold was passed, jumped by 415% to hit a record 304 million. The surge was huge. The sum was small fry. But in two decades time, e.g., I guess, when our loans would be written off, the government expects the amount will be 100 times that. People have really worried about the public purse and how this is going to affect people. Like, it would. works for nobody essentially. It means more and more of these loans will be written off because people can't pay in line with the interest. That figure of that like 304 million pounds, it's money lent that will never be seen again. And people are worried about the impact on public finances in decades to come. Like it's not just people going, oh, boo-hoo, I don't want to pay this. Like I was miss sold, even though I do think that's very valid. The implication on like the country's finances, again, I'm no expert, but in the piece, like it is really worrying. And I think

zooming out on this you just see like shit on shit on shit this works for absolutely no one we have reached crisis levels and it just feels like people for years have been being like we need to look at this we need to look at this I don't think I quite appreciated the grander economic issue of this I was definitely just thinking about myself people of my generation and younger who have been personally screwed over it feels like the worst is yet to come you're so right it just sounds like the housing bubble

and the inevitable crash in 2008 and I feel like there will be somebody looking at all of this, rubbing their hands together, just shorting us. None of us are going to be able to pay this off. The job market is absolutely atrocious right now. All these graduates coming out, it's just an absolute nightmare. It's so scary thinking about, we're talking about billions in terms of unpaid student loans. And it kind of feels like we've been exploited a bit, and that's on the back of us. And I don't know, I just, it makes me very angry. And it also makes me quite scared for what's coming because that is also going to be the years that we're wanting to wind down from work, pension, and really feasibly invest in that, which is something that also scares me.

And the idea of both paying back right now and then also the future being so uncertain because of this investment is really scary. The more I think about the future and what's going to happen for all of us, financially I get more and more worried. What I think is going to be really interesting going forward because obviously one of the reasons this is coming up is that we now have like members of parliament or people in professional settings who are on planned to, people who have now grown up and our adults in the workforce who are directly impacted by this tax.

and all of this coming out, I mean, I've seen a lot of people be asked this, like, would you have gone to university knowing this? If I could have foreseen where my career was going to go, I really didn't need my degree. What my university degree did give me is my best friends. It taught me a lot about myself. It actually gave me a lot of like world knowledge, which probably did contribute to my job actually, but not my actual degree, which is quite interesting. And thinking about how much that cost me. And if I was a younger person now, I think I really would be thinking twice about good. going to university. And so I wonder what that does in the long run, like how this is going to

impact younger people, because it does just seem an astronomical amount of money to spend to enter or attempt to enter into workforce, which is incredibly difficult to penetrate now. And so it would be interesting to see what happens here if it does create, because one of the reasons the loans were sold to us so heavily was because of that hike. Me and you, Ritura would have been the first year that the uni fees went up, which is why I actually took a year out before I went to uni because I was like, oh well, it's already gone up. I'll take a year now. to fanny about and then I'll go to uni, whereas there was a surge of people making sure they went straight away before it changed. And I think that was also why they were so clear about the loans,

like not being really expensive. I know that the degree is really expensive, but the loans aren't. And I do think that maybe people are going to make decisions. Based around all of this information now, younger people deciding not to go to university. And maybe that isn't necessarily a bad choice unless you have a really specific vacation like a doctor. But as we've heard, those are actually the ones that hit the worst because you're in university for such a long time. So your loans are really high. Can I also, to clarify, even though I could have gone to university on the three grand, I am also paying the nine grand. I am also in that same boat. One of the greatest routes my life, but I couldn't have gone to university the year before. So I feel, I'm like, all of my

friends went to university and I, don't worry, I've been side-eyeing them of envy for years. But for a long time, I did think, okay, I've made this decision, I'm not going to think about it. And we got a message from Emily, who said that she kind of thinks about it as a fun tax, the price I pay to me. move away and study something I loved for that. I'm happy to pay a direct debit for the foreseeable. Fair enough. But then we got a message from Vivian who said, I'm still incredibly pissed off that the country was in lockdown for half of my degree and I still have to pay the same as everyone else. That I wasn't even thinking about. Then you can't even have that. Okay, got the experience. It's a fun tax. Imagine you get none of the perks because of COVID, but you're spending that

amount of money. I would riot. I would fake my death and change my name in that order. That is another thing why people feel so betrayed. Like it's such a role of the dice. Some people got a fantastic job, one of a good experience. I paid the nine grand, didn't have a fantastic time. I really like my work now,

but again, nothing to do. Going on Twitter served my work life far more than going to university. And that is quite depressing. But again, it was a decision I made at age 17 to eventually go to university.

The whole thing just feels so rotten, but yeah, I do feel especially sad for the people that didn't even get to go to the club in the Desco pants. No, that is how. That was the best bit of you need. I completely agree. And just to just to reiterate, if we have any Gen Z listeners, I will, I will protest with you. I will riot with you. Just drop me a DM. I'll do it.

Because that is outrageous. That is so scandalous. My sister did her degree during COVID, and I think she had one year out of it. And she was given video seminars and lectures and things like that. And some of them found out, I'm not sure if it was her degree specifically, but the degree they were on. There were video lectures from the years before that were being reused. And it's just, it's so outrageous. It's so crazy. I think they have been absolutely fucked over that generation in particular. We should stand arm in arm.

I'm ready. Because we've just moved on and I don't think that's okay. I think that is so outrageous. Paying nine grand a year for video lectures and, you know, not using accommodation, all those kind of things. It is crazy. And also it made me think about, yes, this is our situation in the UK, but it doesn't also have to be this way.

We got a message from Jenny who said, It's insane what graduates are left with, which also makes me feel very fortunate to live in a country where studying is free. In Denmark, everyone over the age of 18 is entitled to public support for his or hers or theirs education regardless of education. And I know our friends over in the US are probably listening to us in there like, we've got it 10 times worse, mate, but it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. Education should be this amazing thing that everyone is encouraged to do, regardless of background, but especially if you come from a marginalised background. But what we're doing now is penalising people who find it harder to access those vocations. Something is very fucked up with that system.

And actually in terms of the different countries, I think the UK is second to the US in terms of student debt. So in the United States, I think borrowers owe approximately 1.8 trillion. And in 2025, up to 9 million borrowers will have defaulted loans sent to collections in Australia. And I don't know anything about the Australian system, but they have something called indexation adjustments, which is something similar to our RPI, which we as planned tours pay, I believe, 3% above the RPI, which is controlled by all sorts of things. So it rocketed after COVID. It rocked it after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It's completely like the government has had to step in several times to make sure that we weren't paying like 9%. It's insane. So Australia has something called indexation, which means massive loan increases and people go into all kinds of debt despite repaying it. So I think it is a global crisis. And I'm speaking not from any experience. I would be really interested in if people want to comment in the Spotify comments below where you're from and how it works for you.

Because I do think actually looking outside my bubble, I was like, oh shit, this is really bad in so many places with just a few standouts where it seems like a system that actually works in favour of the students. By and large, it just seems to describe a big percentage. You mentioned that message about Denmark. I was at a wedding last summer and I saw this photographer at the wedding who was Italian. And he lives in Denmark. And I think he was saying you actually get paid to study. So he just keeps doing more degrees because they like give you money to study, which I think sounds like a very healthy functioning society.

I will take some money. I will do it for the good of this country to do a media studies degree. Just send it my way, please, Denmark. Do you know what else is when we realise is every now and then when I have a panic? I think I can always go back to uni. It's something I think about all the time. I'm like, maybe I'd love to study anthropology. Maybe I'll do a creative writing course.

Then this all came out and I was like, fuck, no, I can never do this again. There is no world in which I'm ever going to be able to go through the university system because I cannot have hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt and interest, like thousands of pounds of interest repayments every year. And I think that is really sad that education is, I mean, it's already exclusive, but it felt like these loans were giving us access. And actually, I think it's just doing the complete opposite.

Well, in Britain, it was effectively free to go to university between, I think, 1962 and maybe 1998. So the three of us, we should have been at university when we were five. what we're thinking. It was basically like everything was paid for. Maintenance grants covered so much. And I know it's a completely different system and a lot got better, but a lot also got worse. And so it's talking to boomers and a lot of Gen X and trying to explain how bad it is now. It's a whole generation of people that if they went to university, it was free. Now it is a lifelong tax. Like it's completely opposite a system. It's really difficult to have those conversations,

especially with generations, which I'm going to be honest, often not the most feeling about issues for young people nowadays. I think it seems like we're all on a similar page with each other, but we did have quite a few messages from people who said that their student debt, their student loans isn't a big deal for them. And I think I'm just going to read out one or two of those because for balance, yeah, I feel particularly affected and quite angry about it all. But some people just aren't that bothered. So we had a message from Danielle, who said, regarding student loans, I was the first year of 9K loans. Is it bad to say it doesn't impact me? It was worth the debt for the experience and a good job, banned 8A NHS pharmacist, and I'm safe in the knowledge it's not on my credit score and comes out as any other deduction.

But if I lost my job, that'd be it. I don't see it and never have as something to put people off university. And then Natasha said a similar thing. In terms of student debt, I went to uni when I was 21 and I'm now doing my master's at 27. I know I'll never pay off this debt, but I went into it seeing as an earnings tax, which you just pay if you've been to uni. And so I just don't really care. So yeah, I guess it's interesting that not all of us are aligned on it.

Some people feel like it's not a big deal. They're okay. They feel like they got value from it. And I think that's quite a vital piece of the puzzle. So I think I used to feel how they felt because I just kind of was like, well, that's how it is. And now seeing people talking about people much more intelligent than me, much more clued up, pointing out that actually it didn't have to be this way. The way that the interest is accruing is astronomical. There's a graph that I sent to both of you guys that was like the amount of the student loan and the amount of

of interest that you're paying it, which is for our plan two is just like basically goes off the page. And I think that has what's made me feel a sense of injustice. I want to pay back my degree. I'm not paying back my degree. I'm paying back a part of the interest that is on it. And I think that is where you start to feel, or that's where I started to feel the injustice. There's no part, well, I think that you need should be free. That'd be amazing.

But there's no part of me that's like annoyed that I have to make a payment. I'm frustrated about the way that it's been, I mean, the cost of my degree, I think was priced incorrectly, but I also think that now knowing it's like having the wool pulls out from over my eyes, it's like, you know, it didn't actually have to be like that, which is what these younger MPs and new voices coming forward are saying. And now that's when I've got my pitchfork. And I'm like, yes, it didn't have to be like that, even though like 10 minutes go, I was like, I guess I just pay this every year. There was a quote, a piece, a kind of case study of a doctor hoping to become a consultant, quote, theoretically, this would mean a salary for more than £100,000,

but he wants to make sure he never earns this much money. Workers earning between 100,000 and 125,140 pounds, already subject to a marginal tax rate of 62% when including national insurance. Graduates paying off student loans at 9% will face a marginal rate of 71%. And Dr. Luke Craddock on Twitter, who is a junior doctor, called this a quote, productivity nightmare, which is a really neat way of putting what's coming. Like, what other country would do so much to decrease the incentive to work and earn more at a certain level? I mean, that's so far from being my problem than it seems alien. But it is for a lot of people that it really stymies that drive, especially for doctors who I do think should earn a certain amount of money.

But we need is Zoran Mandani because I feel like he is the one that is sorting everything out. Like if we could just bring him over here, get him to sort this out, and then it would all be fine. I agree. Because it's like people are saying, well, there are reforms and solutions. And if we put our heads together, we could at least reform this for future generations. But then you go, well, who's our leadership? Kirstarmer for now and then probably reform. So I don't think people have much faith in the system being reformed properly because the powers that be.

So it seems so disinterested and also have such a history of bullshitting lying and moving the goalpost. So I do see why people are feeling quite weak about this because there are things that can be done at least for future generations. There are a lot of reforms that could come in. But I'm not actually going to hold much space for that. But if you have slightly more hope in the docket than I do, please either DM us with what you think should be done about this or pop it in the Spotify comments below. read them, we will engage with them. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening. And for all of your opinions and takes on this topic, we love being in conversation with you all. Have you listened to our latest extra episode? Last week, we dove in to the new trend of raw dogging boredom and friction

maxing. You have to listen to find out what those terms mean. Please do also give us a follow on Instagram and TikTok at Everything is Content Pod. And please give us a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen, via our DMs. We love to hear your feedback. It's so important. Thank you. We'll see you as always on Friday. Bye.