{"id":329359,"date":"2026-03-26T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:00:35","slug":"why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/HMFSW-7yeh0\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?\"><br \/> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HMFSW-7yeh0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s becoming a symbol of how governments have neglected younger voters,\u201d said Isobel, a 32-year-old policy worker living in Cambridge who the Guardian spoke to about the growing anger over student loan repayments.<br \/>\nSubscribe \u25ba https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a prevalent feeling at the moment, as graduates on plan 2 student loans begin to clock that they are handing over money from their salary every month to repay their loan but are seeing the sum they owe getting bigger.<\/p>\n<p>The reason for that is that their repayments are dwarfed by the interest that is added on to their debt every month.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report by Euronews, England recorded the highest average debt on graduation compared to other European countries.<\/p>\n<p>Those of us who went to university in England between September 2012 and July 2023 \u2013 and students from Wales who have started since September 2012 \u2013 pay interest of RPI plus up to 3%. RPI \u2013 the retail prices index \u2013 is a measure of inflation that can vary each month: in August 2024 it hit 8%. It\u2019s a relatively discredited measure that the government is moving away from using as it can fluctuate wildly and tends to run higher than other inflation figures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou&#8217;re not told this, you\u2019re given absolutely no information,\u201d says Bryony, a producer working at the Guardian who graduated in 2018. She points out how unfair the system is for those from lower-income families who have to take out the highest level of loan. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t told how much interest I was getting charged. I haven&#8217;t been told how much money I owe. It&#8217;s just completely unfair. The system is basically acting like a loan shark.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So with tensions rising after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced a freezing of student loan repayment thresholds, meaning that people on lower salaries will have to start repaying earlier, @neelamtailor \u2013 who presents the Guardian series It\u2019s Complicated \u2013 decided to look into why exactly student loan numbers keep ballooning and what needs to change.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think: are people on plan 2 loans getting unnecessarily screwed over?<\/p>\n<p>To find out more about why the student loans row is escalating and what it means for you, read our deputy money editor Rupert Jones\u2019 explainer \u25ba https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2026\/feb\/24\/why-the-student-loans-row-is-escalating-and-what-it-means-for-graduates<\/p>\n<p>#studentloans #loans #university #studentdebt #rachelreeves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s becoming a symbol of how governments have neglected younger voters,\u201d said Isobel, a 32-year-old policy worker living in Cambridge who the Guardian spoke to about the growing anger over student loan repayments. Subscribe \u25ba https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1 It\u2019s a prevalent feeling at the moment, as graduates on plan 2 student loans begin to clock that they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128995],"tags":[129894,129441,149964],"actors":[],"class_list":["post-329359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guardian-news","tag-becoming","tag-its","tag-symbol"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News ISC Videos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/HMFSW-7yeh0\/hqdefault.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061\"},\"headline\":\"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/hqdefault-3848.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"becoming\",\"it's\",\"symbol\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guardian News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/hqdefault-3848.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061\"},\"description\":\"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/hqdefault-3848.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/hqdefault-3848.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/\",\"name\":\"News ISC Videos\",\"description\":\"Bringing Global News Videos To You\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tidyhosts.com\\\/videos\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.newsisc.com\\\/videos\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos","description":"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos","og_description":"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/","og_site_name":"News ISC Videos","article_published_time":"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i1.ytimg.com\/vi\/HMFSW-7yeh0\/hqdefault.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/#\/schema\/person\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061"},"headline":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?","datePublished":"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/"},"wordCount":394,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hqdefault-3848.jpg","keywords":["becoming","it's","symbol"],"articleSection":["Guardian News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/","name":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing? | News ISC Videos","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hqdefault-3848.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-26T12:00:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/#\/schema\/person\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061"},"description":"Watch Why does our student loan debt keep growing? for free, here on News ISC. Discover more great videos on our website and be part of the community.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hqdefault-3848.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hqdefault-3848.jpg","width":480,"height":360},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/why-does-our-student-loan-debt-keep-growing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why does our student loan debt keep growing?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/","name":"News ISC Videos","description":"Bringing Global News Videos To You","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/#\/schema\/person\/b607dad6f0ffe6ee238615dd31287061","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5cb873dc3ec1a9c6faaada2ff44165cc5008b217d20c9e9a42cc731bad11ed16?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.tidyhosts.com\/videos"],"url":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329359"},{"taxonomy":"actors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/actors?post=329359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}