EXC: Research by the Good Growth Foundation found 45% of 16 to 18-year-old students from lower-income households thought university is not worthwhile due to tuition fees and the associated debt11:00, 20 Jun 2026Updated 11:05, 20 Jun 2026Research found 45% of 16 to 18-year-old students from lower-income households thought university is not worthwhile due to tuition fees and the associated debtNearly half of all working-class students thinking about applying to university are put off because they don’t think it’s value for money, new polling has revealed.Some 45% of 16 to 18-year-old students from lower-income households (C2DE) thought university is not worthwhile due to tuition fees and the associated debt, according to research by the Good Growth Foundation (GGF).In comparison, 40% say they are not put off applying due to the cost of a degree. This was not the case among richer households, where 60% still think a degree is good value for money – only 33% do not.Overall, more than a third of students (38%) aged 16 to 18 from schools and colleges in England and Wales say they are less likely to apply to university because of the financial cost.The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the UK and the English-speaking worldUniversities can currently charge a maximum yearly tuition fee of £9,535 for standard full-time courses. Last year the Government announced tuition fees will increase in line with inflation for the next two years, meaning fees are on course to be closer to £10,000. The Education Secretary has said she will “look at” Plan 2 student loans following widespread alarm over spiralling costsThe GGF is calling for a “Graduate Guarantee” to rebalance the student loans system and ensure graduates can keep more of their hard earned cash as the cost-of-living crisis continues to squeeze.This would see an immediate uplift of the repayment threshold from £29,385 to £33,542, restoring the real value of the £25,000 threshold set in 2018 and reversing recent threshold freezes. Similar to the pensions triple lock, the Graduate Guarantee would enshrine in law annual inflationary increases in the threshold.Graduates with Plan 2 loans earning below the threshold would stop making repayments altogether, while Plan 2 loan holders earning above the threshold would save £374 per year.Louisa Dollimore, Director of Strategy at The Good Growth Foundation, said: “Choices about education should be determined by people’s talents and aspirations, not underpinned by worries about whether a degree will leave them saddled with debt until retirement, affecting their ability to get a mortgage or even just cope with rising cost of living.“That is why the time has come to urgently reform the student loans system. The fairest way to do that is to raise the repayment threshold, which would ensure those on the lowest incomes don’t have to start paying back when they don’t have the money and provide a decent cut in repayments for everyone else. It’s an immediate way to turn student finance back into the springboard for aspiration it was always meant to be.”A government spokesperson said: “We know some graduates are concerned about the cost of loan repayments, and it’s exactly why we’re making the system we inherited fairer.“We’re cracking down on poor quality courses so that students can be confident they’re getting value for money from university degrees, while reintroducing targeted maintenance grants and capping interest rates on student loans.“The student finance system rightly protects lower-earning graduates, with repayments linked to income and any outstanding balances and interest written off at the end of repayment terms.”
