An almighty student debt reckoning has arrived

全能学生贷款清算的时刻已到。

The Story

2026-02-16

31 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

The Times’ Money desk has been investigating the UK’s student debt system – and has discovered some bombshells. After being promised a loan that would be like paying a ‘phone bill every month’, graduates are weighed down by tens of thousands of pounds in ever-increasing debt. So how did we get here? And is there a plan to fix it? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory Guest: Mary Downer, Money reporter, The Times. Host: Luke Jones. Producer: Sophie McNulty. We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com Read more: Plan 2 student loan interest is unfair, says Lucy Powell Further listening: The Budget unpacked Clips: BBC, Parliament Live, ITN, Channel 4 News, LBC. Episode artwork: Times Media. This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is the story.

  • I'm Luke Jones.

  • I would describe student loans like a tumour.

  • You need to nip them in the bud before they get too big.

  • But no one's able to do that.

  • And then they just grow and grow and grow until there's this horrible looming thing over you.

  • Big, cumbersome student loans are back in the headlines.

  • And with it, angry graduates.

  • I've actually just logged in to my student finance account and it's now 52,000 in nine years.

  • So that's great.

  • My debt currently stands at just over 55,000 pounds.

  • My loan is now over 62,000 pounds.

  • So it's great.

  • My debt now stands at just over 75,000 pounds.

  • 79,766 pounds, 75 pence and the debt continues.

  • Many are chasing ballooning debts and their repayments are being outstripped by the interest.

  • I can honestly say that I was 18 and I had just finished school and I wasn't looking at interest rates.

  • We were sold the student loan system on the basis of don't worry you won't need to pay it back

  • if you don't earn enough but there was never any consideration of what

  • if you do earn enough for it to make a significant dent in your salary but very little dent in the loan itself.