Graduates to be hit with ‘brutal’ student loan interest rates of up to 12%

‘Students aren’t cash cows, and we can’t keep taking the brunt of this government’s regressive actions that have left millions exposed to hardship,’ said the NUS’s Hillary Gyebi-Ababio. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Interest rates on student loans are set to soar to as high as 12%, costing higher-earning graduates an extra £3,000 unless the government intervenes, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Interest rates on post-2012 student loans are based on the retail prices index, with the rise in the RPI in March meaning most recent graduates in England and Wales will be charged 9% from September, up from the current rate of 1.5%.