Student loans are not a debt, why not call it tax?

MoneyAlan Belmore argues for the University of York’s The Yorker that student loan repayments should be called ‘tax’ rather than ‘debt’:

One of the pet phrases I hear far too often is that students are “burdened” with debt if they choose to go to university, in reference to the student finance system.

In the past, I too have been guilty of using this phrase, as a fresh-faced first year rallying against the evils of tuition fees. Yet as I have come closer and closer to graduation, I am getting more and more fed up with the idea that we are all leaving university with debt.

I intend not to enter the argument about whether paying for university education is morally right or not, but rather how we deal with the issues in a “9k” era.

Full article here.

About the author

Deputy Editor. Beckie is a final-year Japanese student at the University of Leeds. She is Editor-in-Chief of Lippy: No Gloss and Features Editor of Leeds Student.