BBC: Universities in England showed students loan repayment examples only for low salaries

What the BBC investigation found

The BBC News service checked publicly available information on the websites of more than 110 universities in England and found that some institutions give applicants inaccurate information about Plan 5 student loans, while others provide only 'soft' repayment examples. According to the BBC, 12 universities gave calculations of monthly repayments based solely on salaries below the UK average (£39,039 a year). The University of Gloucestershire, for example, stated that on a salary of £26,000 the repayment would be £7.47 a month; Northumbria University and the University of Huddersfield gave an example of £75 a month on a salary of £35,000, with Northumbria comparing this amount to 'the cost of a daily coffee' — after the BBC got in touch, this comparison was removed from the page.

How Plan 5 loans work and what was missing from the examples

Students in England take out Plan 5 loans to pay for tuition and living costs: they repay 9% of income above £25,000 for 40 years or until the debt is fully paid off. Because the repayment is tied to earnings, its size grows along with the salary — and graduates on average earn more than people without a higher education. The Department for Education (DfE) website, according to the BBC, itself gives examples of monthly repayments only for incomes up to £38,400 and only under other loan plans, with no real examples for Plan 5. For comparison: on a salary of £30,000 the repayment is £37.50 a month, while on £100,000 it is already £562.50. Megan Russon, a graduate and tax adviser from Cannock, told the BBC that on a starting salary of about £29,000 she would pay around £30 a month, but three years after qualifying, on an income of about £50,000, it would already be around £187 a month. According to her, at open days universities gave examples for salaries of £25,000–45,000 and said graduates would 'hardly even notice' the repayments.

Factual errors and the universities' response

Alongside one-sided examples, the BBC also found outright inaccuracies: the University of Exeter wrote that Plan 5 loans are written off ten years earlier than is actually the case; Royal Holloway and Edge Hill gave incorrect income thresholds, while Harper Adams said that students from England were still receiving Plan 2 loans. All four universities updated their websites after the BBC got in touch. Most of the websites checked did not give any worked examples at all and referred readers to materials from the DfE, the Student Loans Company or Student Finance England. In their responses, the universities noted that their examples were illustrative or taken from Student Finance England materials; Northumbria explained that a salary of £35,000 'roughly matches the average for workers in the North East of England', but promised to review the wording. Birmingham City University declined to comment, and the BBC has asked the University of Huddersfield for a comment.

Context of the committee's inquiry and the DfE's position

Meg Hillier, chair of the House of Commons Treasury Committee, who led an inquiry into student loans this year, described some of the information as 'misleading' and said she was 'quite shocked' by the BBC's findings and intends to raise the issue with MPs. Her earlier report concluded that the DfE had engaged in the 'mis-selling' of Plan 2 loans, which were issued in England from 2012 to 2023 and are still issued in Wales, criticising, among other things, comparisons of repayments to £30-a-month phone contracts. At the time the department promised to 'improve information for future borrowers', including the effect of salary growth on monthly repayments. Now Hillier is demanding that the DfE 'take the lead' and add examples for high incomes to its own website, and that universities be held accountable to students. The DfE responded that it considers accurate information for applicants 'vital', confirmed it is reviewing its materials in line with the committee's recommendations, and said it is working with universities on the clarity and currency of their information.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Megan Russon