'I owe £70k repayments on £42k student loan'

A solicitor from Brighton says her £600-a-month student loan repayments remain "huge" despite paying back tens of thousands of pounds and it's "unfair" she will continue accruing interest while on maternity leave.

Polly Fletcher borrowed £42,000 to fund her degree, but while she has already made repayments totalling £48,000 over the past decade, the interest added means she still owes £21,500 today, but that will continue to increase.

Now pregnant with her first child, she says while her payments will pause while her earnings reduce on maternity leave, the interest on her debt will continue to grow.

The government says it is taking action to improve the student loan system, including raising the repayment threshold for those on Plan 2.

In 2012, Polly was one of the first students to take out a Plan 2 loan, the type which lasted from then until 2023.

Graduates repay 9% of their income above the repayment threshold, which is currently £28,470 per year.

She said: "We're all hitting our early 30s now. We're all starting to have kids and we're all buying houses.

"A lot of people aren't buying their first houses now until they're well into their 30s and that's when they kind of look at their finances for the first time often and go 'I haven't got as much as I thought I would have and I can't save as much as I thought I could'.

"And, particularly for maternity and paternity leave, people have to save up now to have kids in a way that they didn't before because they are having to take into account all these extra payments.

"We were being told that it was the cost of a pint every month and you won't notice it, but I notice every month when my payments come out because they're really high."

She added: "I think we were misled. I think they were probably mis-sold to us."

On Tuesday, Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon will seek to introduce a Student Finance (Review) Bill which would require the government to reassess the terms and conditions of student loans.

In a statement the Department for Education said it was taking "decisive action to improve the student finance system" and break down barriers to accessing university.

It said "improved and clearer guidance for those taking out loans" was a priority.

It added: "That includes increasing maximum maintenance loans, reintroducing targeted maintenance grants to expand opportunities for people from all backgrounds, and raised the repayment threshold for Plan 2 loans for the first time since 2021."

It said the government would continue to look for ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers in a financially sustainable way.

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