Sir Peter Lampl wrote to the Times on the unfair impact of the student debt burden.

The government has passed a shameful rise in tuition fees that will add to debts that we have shown to be by far the highest in the English-speaking world and more than double those of an American university graduate.

Student debt is now compounding at a staggering rate of 6 per cent a year, which means that it doubles in 12 years. It is charged as soon as a student begins their undergraduate degree.

The size of this debt weighs increasingly heavily on graduates, even if their repayments are linked to how much they earn. Most will be paying back their loans well into middle age, affecting their ability to go to graduate school, mortgage affordability and decisions on having children.

At the best American universities, living costs and fees are means-tested. It is not clear why in the UK someone from a council estate should pay the same as someone from a top boarding school. As a matter of urgency, the next government should review the case for means-testing the costs associated with going to university.

Read the letter published in the Times here. 

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