A university graduate with a £84,000 student loan debt says he doesn’t know if he will ever pay it back as he struggles to start his desired career path while working part-time in a shop.
Lewis Gibson completed a 2:1 degree in politics and Spanish following a three-year course at the University of Sheffield.
But having received around £67,000 in payments for maintenance and tuition under the Plan 2 student loan system, the 24-year-old now has a debt of £84,346.27, just nine months after graduating.
And although Mr Gibson does not have to start paying back the money until he earns £28,470, he, like thousands of other university graduates, faces a spiralling debt with the balance subject to the rate of RPI (retail prices index) inflation, plus up to 3 per cent, depending on what he earns.
Since April 2025, he said he had been charged £4,445 in interest.
All the while, the graduate said he has experienced an uphill battle to try to land a political sector job suited to his degree, having applied for around 60 roles and only getting three interviews.
Now living back with his parents in Swindon, Wiltshire, Mr Gibson works at a shop part-time in nearby Cirencester to pay the bills as his job hunt continues.
“It’s a struggle,” he told The Independent. “I’m not immune to the fact the jobs market is challenging, but I do also want to settle down, start putting down roots and cracking on with something.
“I do think to myself sometimes that I can’t wait around forever. But then the idea of not doing what I want to be doing, what I believe I’m capable of doing, it doesn’t sit right with me.”
Mr Gibson, who is launching a “side-hustle” of freelancing in videography as he looks for a job, said the retail job was “not a bad job”, but not where he ideally wanted to be.
It comes as a survey by High Fliers Research, a market research company, found the number of graduate jobs offered by Britain’s 100 leading employers had fallen by a quarter in the past three years.
Meanwhile, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the number of young people not in employment, education or training increased to almost a million in the final months of last year amid wider warnings that unemployment is at its highest level since the Covid pandemic.
“I want to do more and all I want is for a graduate employer, quite frankly, to just take a chance on me,” said Mr Gibson, who flew up to Scotland at short notice for one recent job interview.
Mr Gibson’s struggle is compounded by the realisation that his student loan debt will continue to increase every year.
Last week, the issue was brought under the spotlight in Westminster, with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer vowing to look at ways to make the loans system fairer
At the autumn budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the threshold for Plan 2 loan borrowers to start paying back would be frozen at £29,385, from April, for three years, which will lead to more people paying their loans back earlier.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on the government to cut the amount of interest paid on the loans, which were issued between 2012 and 2023, so borrowers are only charged the rate of RPI inflation, and not an extra levy of up to 3 per cent while studying and post-university, when their income is above £51,245.
Mr Gibson said he tried to refrain from checking his debt balance, adding: “I know it’s there, I know it’s increasing, it’s on my mind.
“I want to be in a position where I’m earning enough to pay the loan off, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pay the full balance off.”
The government has said it will reintroduce maintenance grants on certain university courses from 2028/29, while maintenance loans will also rise with inflation from the 2026/27 academic year.
Mr Gibson welcomed any move to improve the outcome for graduates finishing university, adding that the current system, and surrounding publicity, could put others off going to university from less privileged backgrounds.
He said: “I hope this shows we are not whiny snowflake students complaining about money, but that we are a group facing circumstances that are unfortunate.
“We’re trying to make university education inclusive, but I do wonder if I knew what situation I am in now, would I have gone through with it?”
A government spokesperson said: “We inherited the student loans system, including Plan 2, which was devised by the previous government. Threshold freezes have been introduced to protect taxpayers and students now, alongside future generations of learners and workers.
“The student finance system protects lower-earning graduates, with repayments determined by incomes and outstanding loans and interest being cancelled at the end of repayment terms.”
UK to send warship after Cyprus base hit by drone
Clarity sought on whether aircraft used in Iran operations stopped in Scotland
Spring statement live: Reeves defends plan for economy after growth forecasts slashed
US still ‘staunch ally’ after Trump rebuke, No 10 says
How will UK petrol prices be affected by US-Iran war and rising cost of oil?
‘Too soon to know’ if Middle East war will affect small boat arrivals – experts
