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Good morning.<\/p>\n
In November, Rachel Reeves tucked a freeze to student loan repayment thresholds into her autumn budget, to little fanfare. The threshold, normally expected to rise each tax year to account for inflation, would rise this year, and then stay frozen until 2030, dragging people on lower salaries into repayments earlier.<\/p>\n
Sadly for her, the change has not gone unnoticed. Backlash against the plans snowballed in recent weeks. Critics point out the 5.8 million students who took on \u201cplan 2\u201d loans between 2012 and 2023 are already drowning in debt, while others argue the changes mean students have been fundamentally mis-sold loans, as the coalition government promised the salary threshold would rise annually in line with earnings when they were first introduced.<\/p>\n
Now even the Tories, largely responsible for the state that the plan 2 repayments are in now, are arguing for a more just system \u2013 and the government has said it will look into making the loans fairer. But what would that look like? And is it likely? I spoke to the Guardian\u2019s money and consumer editor, Hilary Osborne<\/strong><\/em>, to find out. But first, the headlines.<\/p>\n Middle East <\/strong><\/em>| A torpedo fired by a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka as the Trump administration followed through on its threats to destroy Tehran\u2019s military and political leadership.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n UK news <\/strong><\/em>| A former Labour adviser married to a Labour MP is among three men who have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n BBC | <\/strong><\/em>The BBC is to call for an end to political appointments to its board as part of sweeping changes designed to protect its independence.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Jeffrey Epstein <\/strong>| <\/em>The House oversight committee has voted to subpoena US attorney general Pam Bondi to answer questions over the justice department\u2019s handling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Immigration <\/strong>| <\/strong><\/em>Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n <\/span>Not everyone leaving university will get a high-paid job.<\/span> Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n Hilary Osborne finished university with a \u00a33,000 loan \u2013 a lot smaller than the \u00a320,000 debt I left with, and a fraction of someone on a plan 2 loan today, who will pay an average of \u00a356,000 over their lifetime when you account for interest. And yet, she didn\u2019t feel great about it.<\/p>\n \u201cI was lucky because the tuition fees were free. I got a maintenance grant as well. But my family weren\u2019t able to give me much money,\u201d says Hilary. \u201cI used to have sleepless nights when I was at university. I worried about money so much.\u201d<\/p>\n So she can\u2019t imagine how it must feel for some graduates now, who look at their payslips every month and see the interest added dwarfing the already huge sums they owe.<\/p>\n \u201cI found it psychologically very difficult to have debt,\u201d says Hilary. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve heard the same from readers. One nurse recently told us: \u2018I know that I\u2019ll never pay it all off. But when I see the statement and it\u2019s gone up by more than I\u2019ve paid off, I find that really difficult.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n One argument my generation was given to justify increases was that we would all make more money off the back of doing degrees, so it was only fair to pay towards that privilege. Hilary doesn\u2019t think that argument has proved to be correct.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a country, we\u2019ve moved to a situation where lots of jobs that weren\u2019t graduate jobs, now are. It\u2019s no longer the case that if you\u2019ve gone to university you walk out as a lawyer, or a surgeon \u2013 something that\u2019s a guaranteed well-paid career,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Add the current context for students in England, where house prices have shot up, and job prospects for many graduates look bleak, and \u201cit makes it feel doubly unfair,\u201d Hilary says.<\/p>\n Unfair in so many ways<\/strong><\/p>\n Hilary points out that as a country our loans system is not as punitive as it could be. Repayments are pegged to your <\/strong>earnings rather than being set at a flat rate for every graduate. And failure to repay doesn\u2019t go on your credit file, or trigger debt collection services.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it all adds up, the worry that\u2019s attached to it. It\u2019s kind of difficult to reassure people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n One of the problems for people on a plan 2 repayment plan is that their loans are likely growing much faster than they can pay off. While students only ever pay a maximum of 9% of their salary towards their student loan, the interest rate varies. Graduates earning over \u00a351,254 are seeing interest added to the loans at a rate of 6.2% a year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of this talk over the past few years, where people said \u2018don\u2019t worry about the interest rate. Just focus on the fact that you\u2019re only paying 9% of your salary \u2026 It\u2019s not like a mortgage where you have to pay the whole thing off, and the higher interest rate means you\u2019ll end up paying it off forever\u2019. That was a comfort that people were being given,\u201d says Hilary.<\/p>\n But while those on plan 2 have their remaining balance wiped after 30 years, many graduates say they are on target to repay something like \u00a3100,000 to \u00a3150,000 over their lifetimes, when the sum they borrowed was closer to \u00a360,000 to \u00a370,000.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t help, either, that the rate of interest linked to student loans is linked to a controversial rate of interest \u2013 the retail prices index \u2013 which fluctuates wildly and tends to run higher than other inflation figures. In August 2024, RPI meant students were paying as much as 8% interest on their loans. The government is moving away from using RPI as its inflation measure for other areas of spending, precisely because of these shortcomings.<\/p>\n As the Guardian\u2019s money editor, Hilary often hears from consumers who have been ripped off by retailers, and she says she has sympathy for the idea that students have been ripped off here. \u201cPeople were told [loans] would go up in line with earnings and actually in the legislation it says that as well, but in the terms and conditions it says the regulations may change from time to time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a high street bank said [that] \u2026 I would say that was possibly an unfair contract \u2013 because you\u2019re signing up to something that someone might change at any time, and you haven\u2019t got the information to know whether that\u2019s going to be a good or a bad thing. But the only way you can get the loan is to sign it.\u201d<\/p>\n Worse than the US<\/strong><\/p>\n In swotting up for this, I was surprised to find that the US system of loan forgiveness \u2013 even under President Donald Trump \u2013 looks far more progressive than the UK. In the US, firefighters, teachers and social workers have had their loans written off; parents will see monthly deductions to their debt; and there exists a rule which means no one should see their loan increase while they\u2019re making repayments.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think it is really interesting the way they\u2019ve tackled it and I think there are things we can learn,\u201d says Hilary. She is particularly taken by the idea that students shouldn\u2019t have to see their loans grow while they\u2019re re-paying, and it reminds her of something she was shocked by when first entering the loans system herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI naively had this idea that while you were focusing on your studies, when maybe you weren\u2019t working, that you could keep what you borrowed down. But you\u2019re actually already racking up interest on your debt, even then. And that seems really unfair. It just means it feels like you\u2019re always running to catch up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Other times that graduates continue to accumulate interest, despite not paying, include while parents are on maternity leave \u2013 and this is a notoriously expensive time, with the UK offering some of the lowest rates of paid maternity leave relative to earnings in the OECD.<\/p>\n A possible review<\/strong><\/p>\n Last week, Keir Starmer said the government would look into ways to make the student system fairer. That\u2019s something Hilary thinks is now inevitable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got such a head of steam,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is time to do the sums again and think, \u2018is the best thing just to unfreeze the freezing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But one thing that makes the system so unfair in England and Wales \u2013 that the amount people repay is based on when they were born \u2013 might make it harder for the government to do much more.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose if you start being too generous on this loan, then people are going to start calling you to do different things [for their loans] as well, aren\u2019t they?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n But she does think something has to give. Hilary\u2019s generation came of age just as the New Labour government was coming into power, promising that 50% of young people would end up at university. As a result, she and her peers became happily accustomed to believing their children would all have the chance to go to university if they wanted. But that may no longer be the case.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does feel [the level of debt has gone] kind of too far. If, as a country, we want people to have degrees to do some of these jobs, then we should be picking up some of the tab for it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Song thrushes can mimic other species, as Kevin Rushby discovered. <\/span> Photograph: FLPA\/Alamy<\/p>\n Is it a truism that as you get older you suddenly find yourself drawn to bird-watching? I really enjoyed Kevin Rushby on bird calls<\/strong> on a North York Moors walk. Martin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n I often find myself using AI<\/strong>, finding it helpful, then wondering if it\u2019s actually helpful or if I should be using it. Rhik Samadder sums up the conflicts brilliantly in this new Guardian US AI for the People newsletters series, as he tries to replace a therapist with a chatbot. Poppy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n For Collegetown Magazine, Dylan Alphenaar takes a deep and disturbing dive into a mostly forgotten hostage-taking and shooting<\/strong> situation that unfolded at a college in Iowa in the 1980s. Martin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Such is the pluralism of this paper that I was incredibly taken by Rutger Bregman\u2019s call to action in our opinion pages \u2013 asking us to quit ChatGPT<\/strong> right now. He says ChatGPT is funding Trump, and assisting his ICE raids. Poppy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Shaad D\u2019Souza interviews Robyn<\/strong> for The Face as she prepares to release her first album for eight years. Martin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span>Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring Arsenal\u2019s first goal.<\/span> Photograph: Tony O Brien\/Reuters<\/p>\n Football <\/strong><\/em>| Arsenal seized control of the Premier League title race as Bukayo Saka\u2019s goal secured a priceless 1-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester City could only draw 2-2 at home to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n Cricket <\/strong><\/em>| New Zealand opener Finn Allen smashed the fastest-ever century in a T20 World Cup game to help the Kiwis defeat favourite South Africa by nine wickets in the first semi-final on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Golf <\/strong><\/em>| Luke Donald will captain Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup team for a third time and go for a historic three-peat.<\/p>\n <\/span>Guardian front page, 5 March 2026<\/span> Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cAt least 87 dead as US sinks Iranian ship near Sri Lanka,\u201d is the lead story on the Guardian<\/strong> on Thursday. \u201cWarzone widens as US sub torpedoes warship off Sri Lanka,\u201d has the i<\/strong>. \u201cTrump\u2019s war goes global,\u201d says the Metro<\/strong>, while the FT<\/strong> has \u201cUS broadens war on Iran to high seas,\u201d and the Telegraph<\/strong>: \u201cMiliband led revolt to Trump\u2019s Iran war.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLabour ensnared in China spy probe,\u201d says the Mail<\/strong>. \u201cAllies round on \u2018weak\u2019 UK,\u201d has the Times<\/strong>. \u201cGreek cops wanted \u00a350k Maguire \u2018bribe\u2019\u201d is the splash at the Sun<\/strong>. \u201cWeak, weak, weak!\u201d says the Express<\/strong>. \u201cMP: I\u2019ve never suspected my husband,\u201d is the lead story at the Mirror<\/strong>. Finally, the Star<\/strong> with \u201cThe \u2018spy\u2019 who loved MP.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>US president Donald Trump, left, and British prime minister Keir Starmer look at each other as they shake hands during a press conference at Chequers near Aylesbury, England, 18 Sept., 2025. <\/span> Photograph: Leon Neal\/AP<\/p>\n Starmer, Trump and the shaky \u2018special relationship\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n When the US and Israel unleashed coordinated strikes on Iran, Keir Starmer initially held back on allowing the US to use UK military bases. But then, on Sunday evening, the prime minister agreed that the US could use two of its military bases \u2013 but maintained that the UK did not believe in \u201cregime change from the skies\u201d. Rafael Behr<\/strong> speaks about why Donald Trump\u2019s war on Iran presents a strategic dilemma for Keir Starmer<\/p>\n <\/span> Illustration: Nicola Jennings\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018\u201cThere was a ship,\u201d quoth he\u2019: Iron Maiden\u2019s Bruce Dickinson performs in 1985.<\/span> Photograph: Mark Downey\/Corbis\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Ahead of World Book Day on Thursday, Guardian music writers pick out the musicians whose literary references illuminated them and got them reading great works.<\/p>\n Katie Hawthorne talks about re-discovering the novel Charlotte Sometimes via the Cure, and it holding a mirror to her increasingly uncertain sense of self. Lindesay Irvine talks of discovering the works of Antonio Gramsci via the work of Green Gartside AKA Scritti Politti, saying the literature the music referenced ultimately \u201cbegan my route to an MA in continental philosophy\u201d.<\/p>\n Saul Bellow, Grace Paley and Joe Orton get namechecks, and Matt Mills reveals that if Iron Maiden hadn\u2019t recorded their 13-minute epic rendition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner he might have failed his English A-level. And they used to say that rock\u2019n\u2019roll was a bad influence.<\/p>\n Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning. In November, Rachel Reeves tucked a freeze to student loan repayment thresholds into her autumn budget, to little fanfare. The threshold, normally expected to rise each tax year to account for inflation, would rise this year, and then stay frozen until 2030, dragging people on lower salaries into repayments earlier. Sadly for her,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1043,16374,3626,2669,3022,678,5600,489,781],"class_list":{"0":"post-45901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-briefing","9":"tag-degree","10":"tag-generation","11":"tag-idea","12":"tag-missold","13":"tag-students","14":"tag-thursday","15":"tag-universities","16":"tag-university"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Five big stories<\/h2>\n
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In depth: \u2018It\u2019s no longer the case that university guarantee\u200bs a well-paid career\u2019<\/h2>\n
What else we\u2019ve been reading<\/h2>\n
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Sport<\/h2>\n
The front pages<\/h2>\n
Today in Focus<\/h2>\n
Cartoon of the day | Nicola Jennings<\/h2>\n
The Upside<\/h2>\n
Bored at work?<\/h2>\n