The Daily Mail reported on the implications of the new Sutton Trust/IFS report.

Three-quarters of university graduates will still be paying off student loans in their 50s, research has revealed.

Middle-income professionals such as teachers face repaying up to £2,500 a year throughout their 40s, a time when many will be raising families and servicing large mortgages.

A study found 73 per cent of graduates will take so long to repay their debt they will qualify for it to be written off after 30 years – when most will be at least 51.

These students will effectively pay an extra ‘tax’ via payroll deductions for 30 years, according to the research, commissioned by education charity the Sutton Trust.

The study sets out in detail for the first time the implications of reforms which saw most universities triple their tuition fees to £9,000 a year.

It has prompted calls for the system to be overhauled. Ministers are already under pressure amid evidence the regime will fail to deliver the expected savings to taxpayers.

Conor Ryan, director of research at the Sutton Trust, said: ‘There has been a lot said about the lower repayments that graduates make in their 20s under the new loan system, but very little about the fact that many graduates will face significant repayments through their 40s, whereas many would previously have repaid their loans by then.

‘The new system will benefit  graduates who earn very little in their lifetime.

‘But for many professionals, such as teachers, this will mean having to find up to £2,500 extra a year to service loans at a time when their children are still at school and family and mortgage costs are at their most pressing.’

Read tge full article here.