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From GB News yesterday:
A blistering on‑air takedown of the Plan 2 student loan system by The New Statesman editor Oli Dugmore has intensified pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, after she insisted the current arrangements are “fair”. Appearing on BBC Question Time, Mr Dugmore, who began university in 2012 under the Coalition’s £9,000 fee regime, laid out the personal cost of his loan in stark terms. He said a single year of his degree cost more than the entire annual tuition bill faced by students at Oxford, Cambridge or the LSE when fees were free.
“Do you think that’s fair?” he asked.
Mr Dugmore explained that he left university with around £37,500 in debt, but the most striking figure was the interest. Since 2012, he said, the interest alone on his loan had reached £32,000. He added: “Was it mis‑sold to me when I was told it would cost nine grand a year? Yeah, I’d say so.”
I suspect most of you know what is coming:
Not one of the 150 000 UK graduates with student loan debts of £100 000-plus is from Scotland
The highest publicly reported individual student debt in Scotland is £50,000, accumulated by a medical student who studied in England (where Scottish residents pay tuition fees) and accrued significant interest over time. This figure comes from a 2024 BBC report on extreme UK-wide cases under the Student Loans Company (SLC) system, which administers all UK student loans, including those for Scottish-domiciled borrowers on Plan 4 loans. While the UK’s absolute highest debt is £231,000 (from multiple English courses), Scotland’s free undergraduate tuition policy for residents studying in Scotland caps most debts far lower, with averages around £15,400–£17,000 upon entering repayment.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/376423/uk-student-loan-debt/
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jun/20/students-in-england-graduate-average-debt-increase
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It’s the deliberate omission by the media and opposition parties of all of those students elsewhere in the UK leaving University with a vast student loan debt that is the part that they leave out when they all complain about free Tuition fees here in Scotland.
There was a post online by a Dr Luke Craddock in Feb 2026 where he commentated on Oli Dugmore’s appearance on BBC QT and he stated that:
“I graduated medical school in 2023, taking out a total loan of £77,549. As Oli states, interest is charged from the beginning, which is an added sting for longer courses like Medicine. Despite working as a doctor for 3 years, making regular repayments, my loan continues to grow”
He also added that as of the 6 February 2026 the balance on his student loan was now “£106,273.70”.
However just think how long it takes to train a doctor.
Then think how parties like Reform UK are demanding that the UK should be less reliant on doctors from elsewhere in the world and instead should train it’s own doctors.
Problem being given how long the training is for a doctor then would many of these homegrown doctors be in the same position as Dr Luke Craddock , with many of them also having a huge student loan debt after they graduated. ( a debt that continued to keep rising). Surely then , for some, a disincentive to even consider training to be a doctor,
Then given the position of various UK governments refusing to negotiate fully with the BMA in England and so then not agreeing to the pay demands of English doctors.
So then what in the future would stop many of these same English doctors with a vast student loan debt of eventually just deciding to go elsewhere in the world, encouraged perhaps by getting far better pay and work conditions , just to help pay off their vast student loan debt that they accrued when training in England ?
Though Wales is the same as they too have tuition fees that are high as well, so students there also leave Uni with vast debt via their student loans.
Also it not only graduating doctors leaving Uni with vast debt but others also. I mean how do you get on the housing property market as a first time buyer when you are already in hock for your student loan ?
A viscous circle and a hidden factor whenever the attacks begin on the Scottish government upon free tuition fees.
Liz S
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