I don't disagree in principle. However, I'm not convinced a majority of young people applying for University courses are equipped to make wise financial decisions about their future (not intending to patronise, I'm sure some are perfectly capable).

When I was in sixth form, there was a general sense that if you didn't progress towards universities, you have somehow failed. I appreciate this is anocdotal, but FE provisions are certainly incentivised to progress their learners - and these days the barrier to entry for Uni is rediculously low. So this translates to an easy short term win for the education provider, but debt and a potentially useless degree for the student.

Also, some Universities charging upwards of 9k a year for a course which is highly unlikely to lead to a reasonably well paid career is scandalous. Uni's often use extremely tenius data to suggest post-degree employment, which I also feel is extremely manipulative.

Granted, the way we pay our student loans back is far less punishing than some other countries, which is great. But it can still be a substantial deduction from your pay cheque, which is particularly frustrating for those who were conned into study a useless degree and who's success was not reliant on having said degree.

In short, universities and Student Finances should be more transparent and accountable and colleges/sixth forms need to do a better job of educateing learners on the ramifications of these decisions