Student leaders from universities across the UK, along with Rethink Repayment and the National Union of Students (NUS), gathered outside Number 10 North on September 17, calling for a reform to student loans.
Among them were members of the University of Manchester Students’ Union: City & Community officer Hasan Patel and Science & Engineering officer Jack Newton.
At the centre of the demonstration are the Plan 2 loans, which UK university students would have taken out between the 2012/13 and 2022/23 academic years. Students will repay 9% of their salary in excess of £29,835. Interest is based on the RPI plus 3% and accumulates during their time at university; it will be wiped after 30 years.
Led by George Charlton, President of The Union at Manchester Metropolitan University, they called for three reforms:
- Unfreeze the Plan 2 repayment threshold to increase in line with inflation
- Calculate interest rates based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI)
- Reduce the monthly repayment rate from 9% to 5%
Rachel Reeves announced in the November 2025 budget that the repayment threshold for Plan 2 loans will be frozen, meaning graduates will repay more on their loans than if the thresholds rose with inflation. Coupled with fluctuating interest rates, which are now capped at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year but have reached as high as 12% in the past, graduates would be paying much more than they initially took out.
Days prior, students’ Union officers from the five civic universities in Greater Manchester released a joint statement calling for “meaningful action” on student loans in the upcoming Autumn budget, noting that millions were mis-sold on the prospect of taking out loans.
In July, a Treasury Committee report revealed that the government did not inform students properly about the terms of the Plan 2 loans. They also said that comparing them to phone contracts in promotional material “amounted to mis-selling”.
The government has agreed to change how the loans are sold to prospective students, but has rejected recommendations to ensure that the advertisements comply with the Financial Conduct Authority’s standards.
