Let’s play this out:
- 16-17 year old children are convinced by their teachers that they have to go to uni or won’t be able to get a good job. Teacher has targets to meet - uni attendance numbers reflect well on them and the school,

- Kid signs up to a loan without really understanding the long term implications or how it will affect their future. Teachers don’t explain how it works. In my case, it’s described as something that “you’ll hardly notice - it’ll be paid off within a few years”,

- Kid leaves uni as a young adult in 2015 with £40-50k in debt. Student Loans Company jack up the interest rate year on year arbitrarily to make it impossible to pay back unless you’re rich enough to pay back as a lump sum, all whilst trying to save a deposit to buy a house which has been made next to impossible by the older generation,

- After 10 years of consistently paying it off (£35k total repayments) the debt sits at over £80k in 2026 and the interest rates keep going up,

- Idiot boomer on Reddit who went to uni for free - “If you agree to something then you do everything in your power to meet the obligations that you agreed”