What happens at the moment?
The number of university students has risen from 68,000 in 1980 to more than 500,000.
To help fund the expansion, Labour introduced tuition fees in England in 1998 capped at £1,000 a year. This was then raised to £3,000 and to £9,000 in 2012.
Fees are now capped at £9,250 with 75% of universities charging the full amount.
Graduates have to pay off their debt at a rate of 9% on earnings above the salary threshold of £21,000 a year. So if you get £30,000 a year, you repay £810 a year.
If the loans are not repaid after 30 years, they are written off. It is estimated that 75% of graduates will not pay off all of their debts.
Each year, students fail to pay back £8billion in student loans – in effect, a Government subsidy.