Debt-ridden graduates seen as ‘cash cows’ to fund older people’s lifestyles, MPs told

Many students now pay back loans often two to two-and-a-half time bigger than the original sum borrowed. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA

Graduates saddled with ballooning student loan debts feel they are being unfairly used as “cash cows” to finance measures benefiting older people such as the state pension triple lock, MPs have been told.

Student representatives told an official inquiry about the “harrowing” plight of many young people, while the man who led the 2019 government review into post-18 education criticised the “almost sneaky” changes to loan terms, and appeared to compare the situation facing graduates with the car finance and payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandals.