Who needs a degree?

WHY the surprise that 80 per cent of student debt will never be paid off (Mail)? At the time they graduate, they are looking not just for a job, but for a home and possibly have thoughts of settling down and starting a family.

Doing this with a £50,000 debt is nigh impossible for many graduates. But offering ‘free’ education to all, as Jeremy Corbyn proposes, will simply saddle graduates with having to pay for it in higher taxation.

The country is awash with talented people who have a degree, but did they need one for the job they are doing? Many of Britain’s most successful business people never went to university.

It’s time to encourage more people to join the trades — these are the people who keep the fabric of this country together. Who do you think is repairing Big Ben? An accountant, a hedge fund manager, Nick Clegg?

Let us believe in young people and offer them training and education suited to their abilities, not punish them with a lifetime of debt.

J. WIGNALL, Accrington, Lancs.