'Basically you're trapped' Postgraduates burdened with double loan debt

Graduates call for reform of student loans as those with a master's degree can struggle with onerous repayment terms.

- By Miatta Mbriwa

Whether to pursue a master's degree was not really a choice for Francesca Peters.

Fresh from an undergraduate degree in biochemistry in 2020, she had set her sights on securing her dream job. There was a catch, however. The only route into her chosen field was further study - and more debt.

She had finished university with more than £60,000 in student debt but another loan to fund her master's meant this spiralled to £77,000. "It feels like a life tax," she says. "I'm never going to pay it off."

Peters, 27, is one of a growing number of people calling on the UK government to reform the student loan system. In the past year criticism has been mounting over the "unfair" terms of plan 2 loans, taken out by millions of undergraduates in England and Wales between 2012 and 2023.

The latest Student Loans Company figures show that the total owed in student loans in England jumped 10.5% to £294.6bn in the 2025-26 financial year. Of the extra £28bn, just over £12bn was accrued interest.

But as the debate rages, the issue of postgraduate loans has been largely overlooked. "The terms for the postgraduate loan are some of the most egregious out there," says Oliver Gardner, the founder of Rethink Repayment. "Because the repayment threshold is so low. And the interest rate that can be charged is always so high."