Debt-ridden graduates are increasingly being viewed as ‘cash cows’ to finance the lifestyles of older generations, MPs were told during a Commons Treasury select committee session. On Tuesday, seven experts gave evidence on the mounting student loan scandal and its impact on young people.
Ollie Gardner, founder of Rethink Repayment—a campaign led by graduates striving for a fairer system—described the issue as an “intergenerational crisis.” He criticized the government for freezing repayment thresholds, saying, “It feels like graduates are being exploited to generate more tax revenue.” Gardner emphasized the widespread anger felt by many young borrowers.
Philip Augar, who conducted the 2019 review of England’s higher education funding, expressed similar concerns. “I share the general outrage,” he said, adding that the terms and conditions graduates signed up for were not clearly explained. Augar stressed that the government, like any financial services provider, has a duty of customer care when issuing loans.
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Highlighting the moral implications, Augar condemned the retrospective and piecemeal changes to loan terms as “complicated” and “sneaky.” When asked whether financial regulators would tolerate such actions from a bank, he pointed to past scandals like car loan mis-selling and payment protection insurance abuses that led to similar public backlash.
Responding to the criticisms, a spokesperson for the Labour Party acknowledged inheriting a flawed system but highlighted steps to improve fairness. These include raising the repayment threshold for the first time since 2021, capping maximum interest rates to shield graduates from rising costs, and reinstating targeted maintenance grants designed to protect lower-earning graduates.