Students face paying back loans early

PUGH IS AWAY

GRADUATES could be forced to start repaying their student loans earlier in their careers under Government plans revealed last night.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reported to be considering cutting the salary threshold for when repayments are triggered from the current £27,295 to £23,000, in a move that would save the Treasury as much as £2billion a year. The National Union of Students said it would be ‘totally opposed’ to any such reduction, with its vice-president for higher education, Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, telling the Financial Times: ‘The injustice is simply astounding.’

The average student now graduates owing in the region of £45,000.

The debts are written off after 30 years, and the Government estimates that more than half of the loans will never be paid back.