Should we write off student debts?

WHILE writing off £100 billion of university fees debt might be costly, doing nothing will be even worse. Only one-third of graduates will pay off their debt and many will not earn enough to pay any back. A student leaving university with a debt of £50,000 who never earns enough to repay anything will owe £287,000 after 30 years, when it has to be paid off by the Government. In 30 years’ time, that will mean writing off £1 trillion. MALCOLM HOWARD, Banstead, Surrey. WHY say Labour wants to write off £100 billion of student loans? They want to charge the taxpayer £100 billion to pay off student loans. PAUL BRAZIER, Kingswood, Glos. THE Government should set up a commission to determine how much money can be allocated to each university subject, similar to the funding of drugs by the NHS. This would recognise courses that pay back the country in the long term. GEOFF CLARKE, Stafford, W. Mids. STUDENT debt could be lowered by forcing students to study for at least eight hours a day, halving their time at university. This would improve their education and prepare them better for life. S. ATKINS, Lightwater, Surrey. LABOUR’S education spokesman Angela Rayner said Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to wipe out student debt would only be considered when the ‘sums added up’, as they did not know how it could be funded. The £109 billion this would cost is not under Corbyn’s mattress after all! Is there anyone outside Labour who did not take Corbyn’s statements on this matter before the election as an emphatic statement of intent? KURT CHARLES, Howden, E. Yorks. I AM fed up with the suggestion that my generation all received a grant to pay for university. Only a tiny percentage of people went to university. Yes, there were no fees but a means-tested grant was only awarded based on parents’ income, so very few people received the full amount. J. McCORMICK, Allithwaite, Cumbria.