Is a Degree Actually Worth the Debt?

England's tuition fee has risen from £1,000 when Labour introduced it in 1998 to £3,000 in 2006 and £9,000 in 2012, reaching £9,250 in 2017 where it froze until a rise to £9,535 in 2025/26. Average debt at graduation nearly tripled in a decade: £16,200 in 2011/12 under £3,000 fees, £45,800 in 2022/23 under £9,250 fees.^[1] Under Plan 5, introduced for the 2023 entry cohort, the repayment term extends to 40 years at a threshold of £25,000 and interest capped at RPI (Bank Rate plus 1%). Under Plan 2, 72% of graduates never fully repay — far above original Treasury modelling.^[1]

Despite the debt, access has not collapsed: 76% of young people who left school after the 2012 fee increase went on to higher education. The IFS estimated in 2024 that the average graduate earns £100,000–£300,000 more over a lifetime than a non-graduate, though creative arts, social care, and some humanities degrees produce negative returns for many.^[2] The OfS Graduate Outcomes Survey shows three in ten graduates working in non-graduate roles five years after leaving.^[5] Subject-level variation is stark: medicine and engineering deliver strong returns while other fields leave graduates no better off financially than peers who skipped university entirely.

Universities themselves face a funding crisis. The £9,250 fee cap, frozen from 2017 to 2025, lost over £2,450 per student in real terms. The Office for Students' 2023 financial sustainability assessment found 40% of English higher education providers in difficulty; 40 universities ran deficits in 2022/23, with several — including Coventry — announcing restructuring.^[3] Total sector income was £41.9 billion in 2021/22, of which £19.2 billion came from tuition fees. International students, numbering 680,000 in 2022/23 and generating £25 billion in economic activity, have become the financial lifeline — making government moves from 2023 to restrict the Graduate Route visa a direct threat to institutional solvency.^[4]