This post was originally published on this site.
Your coverage of the dispute between Martin Lewis and the chancellor touches a deeper issue that deserves far more attention (Student loans: why is Martin Lewis clashing with Rachel Reeves?, 3 February).
Student “loans” are not really loans. They are, in substance, a graduate tax – compulsory for all but the wealthy, income‑linked, unavoidable and often long‑lasting. Calling them loans is not neutral language; it is a political convenience that removes them from proper democratic scrutiny.
I declare an interest: I once headed a university. My unease with this system has been with me for years. What has changed is that someone with public reach has finally said this plainly.
The harm is not only financial, but cultural. By passing off a tax as borrowing, the state teaches young people that living with large, abstract debt is normal – even essential – and that payment can always be deferred. That lesson does not stop at higher education. It teaches “live now, pay later”.
Worse still, parts of the repayment stream were sold off, turning compulsory student borrowing into an ethically uneasy source of private yield.
This is not progressive funding. It is extraction – and miseducation.
Prof Vaughan Grylls
Co-founder and CEO, University for the Creative Arts