‘I’m 37 and ready to start a family, but my crippling student loan debt is holding me back’
“How long will I have to put my life on hold?”
As one of millions of graduates paying off student loans, 37-year-old Tobias Clapp asks himself this question every day.
The solicitor, from Orpington, Kent, is ready to take the next steps in her life: getting married, buying a house and starting a family.
But like the vast majority of graduates who took out the controversial Plan 2 student loans, he found himself “fighting against the tide” and unable to achieve some of his goals due to the weight of his outstanding debt.
In 2014, eight years after he left school at 16 and started working as a hairdresser, Mr Clapp decided to return to education and took out a £3,500 loan for a college access humanities course he needed to take before continuing to study at university.
He was told that this amount would be deducted from his total student loan if he went on to graduate from university, but by the time he finished his law degree at the University of Exeter the interest accrued on his loan had already exceeded £3,500, making the deduction unnecessary.
Since completing the Legal Practice Course (LPC), the final stage of training to become a qualified solicitor, Mr Clapp, who started working as a qualified solicitor, paid off £7,500 of his £53,289 loan, but with additional interest of £24,980 his remaining balance rose to £64,422.
His monthly payments of £300 are now forcing him to “put his life on hold”; because he’s struggling to save enough to pay off his mortgage or start a family.
“It was very disappointing,” he said. Independent. “Part of growing up is being able to take the next steps in your life, getting past where you’re at and taking the next step. But I still feel like I have to act like I’m in my early 20s.”
He added: “I’m 37 now. It would be nice to start thinking about the next step, my girlfriend and I have been together for four years, we’re talking about the mortgage and the kids.”
Mr Clapp said despite “spent every penny” they had on their mortgage, they could not find a two-bedroom house that could accommodate a family.
The couple also postponed their engagement, saying the loan payments were “fundamentally delaying” their life plans.
“We were thinking of having two children, but considering our ages the reality is that it will now be an only child, which is disappointing,” she said. “I’ve put in blood, sweat and tears, and every time I make progress, I get an email from the student loan company telling me I have to pay more.”
The government has faced growing criticism of the student loans system after the chancellor announced the repayment threshold would be frozen for three years; This means graduates will likely be drawn into higher repayment ranges as their salaries rise with inflation.
An opinion poll conducted by Parliament’s Treasury Committee found that 70 percent of 49,357 graduates surveyed said loan repayments had a significant impact on their future financial planning.
There is a particular focus on Schedule 2 student loans, which were introduced in 2012 and have interest rates linked to the retail price index inflation (RPI) rate.
Ollie Gardner, founder of campaign group Rethink Repayment, said the survey showed politicians needed to rethink student loans “to avoid the long-term economic consequences of holding back an entire generation”.
“The fact that student loan repayments are having such a significant impact on young people’s finances should concern us all deeply,” he said. “They prevent many people from reaching important life milestones like buying a home, starting a family, and saving for retirement simply because they choose to pursue higher education.”
Alex Stanley, vice president of the National Union of Students, said the government “cannot afford not to listen anymore”.
“These loans were necessary to invest in our education, but now they are freezing our future.”
Roxi Quinn, 32, is another graduate who had to rethink her life plans over a student loan plan she felt was “missold.”
After graduating from Sheffield Hallam with a degree in mathematics, he went directly to work as a credit analyst at HSBC and then continued his career as a credit risk consultant.
Although he has repaid £26,714 of his £37,803 loan, the interest accrued on the loan means he has made almost no change to the loan and he still owes £36,379 as of October 2025.
Her monthly payment of around £300 now leaves her unsure whether she can afford to have children.
“We have no money left at the end of the month,” he said. Independent. “And when I was paying £300 a month towards my student loan, I couldn’t imagine that if I had a child I’d be able to take time off work and then be able to afford childcare to go back to work, or even just generally be able to afford the things you need to have children.”
He said the long-term impact of the loan was not fully disclosed when he signed up at 17, and at the time he believed it would be akin to paying for a phone contract.
“I was absolutely not financially aware at all when I was 17, 18. I came from a low-income family, there was no real financial literacy in my family, there was no one who understood that,” he said.
“You assumed it was something you bought, paid a portion of your salary every month, and barely even noticed. Then when you wanted to buy a house or have kids, it was gone and not there anymore. And that wasn’t the case for us.”
A government spokesman said they were aware of concerns among some graduates and “understand why this is an important issue”.
“We have taken over the current system and taken steps to make it fairer – including raising the repayment threshold for the first time since 2021 and capping maximum interest rates this year to protect graduates from rising costs. “We have also reintroduced targeted maintenance grants to expand opportunities for people from all backgrounds to go to university or college.
“The student finance system protects low-income graduates with income-contingent repayments and the write-off of outstanding balances and interest at the end of repayment terms.”
