‘I graduated with £84k student loan debt – I’ve applied for 60 jobs but can only get a part-time shop role’
A university graduate with £84,000 in student loan debt says he doesn’t know if he can repay the loan as he tries to start his desired career path while working part-time in a shop.
Lewis Gibson completed a 2:1 degree in politics and Spanish following a three-year course at the University of Sheffield.
But the 24-year-old, who received nearly £67,000 in payments for maintenance and tuition under the Schedule 2 student loan system, now owes £84,346.27 just nine months after graduating.
Although Mr Gibson does not have to start repaying the money until he earns £28,470, like thousands of other university graduates he faces mounting debt, with the balance increasing by up to 3 per cent depending on the RPI (retail price index) inflation rate and what he earns.
He said he had been charged £4,445 in interest since April 2025.
Meanwhile, the graduate said he had an uphill battle to find a job in the political sector that matched his degree, applying for nearly 60 positions and receiving only three interviews.
Mr Gibson, who now lives with his family in Swindon, Wiltshire, works part-time in a shop in nearby Cirencester to pay the bills while his search for work continues.
“It’s a struggle,” he said Independent. “I’m not immune to the fact that the job market is tough, but I also want to settle down, start putting down roots and dabbling in things.
“Sometimes I think to myself that I can’t wait forever. But then the idea of not doing what I want to do, what I believe I can do, doesn’t sit well with me.”
Mr Gibson, who started freelancing in videography while looking for work, said the retail job was “not a bad job” but it wasn’t where he ideally wanted to be.
This comes as a survey by High Fliers Research, a market research firm, found that the number of postgraduate jobs offered by Britain’s leading 100 employers has fallen by a quarter in the last three years.
Meanwhile, the latest report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the number of young people not in employment, education or training rose to almost a million in the final months of last year, amid wider warnings that unemployment is at its highest level since the Covid pandemic.
“I want to do more and all I want is for a graduate employer to frankly give me a chance,” said Mr Gibson, who recently flew to Scotland for a job interview.
Mr. Gibson’s struggle is compounded by the realization that his student loan debt will continue to rise each year.
The issue was raised in Westminster last week, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowing to look at ways to make the credit system fairer.
In the autumn budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the threshold for Schedule 2 loan borrowers to start repayment will be frozen at £29,385 for three years from April, leading to more people repaying their loans sooner.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called on the government to reduce the amount of interest paid on loans made between 2012 and 2023; so borrowers are only charged the RPI inflation rate, not an extra tax of up to 3 per cent while they are studying and after university, when their income is over £51,245.
Mr Gibson said he tried to avoid checking his debt balance, adding: “I know it’s there, I know it’s rising, it’s in my mind.
“I want to be in a position where I earn enough to pay off the loan, but I don’t know if I can pay off the full balance.”
The government said it will reintroduce maintenance grants to certain university courses from 2028/29, while maintenance loans will also increase with inflation from the 2026/27 academic year.
Mr Gibson welcomed any steps to improve outcomes for graduates leaving university, adding that the current system and surrounding publicity could prevent others from less privileged backgrounds from attending university.
He said: “I hope this shows that we are not whiny snowflake students complaining about money, but a bunch of people facing unfortunate circumstances.
“We are trying to make university education inclusive, but I wonder if I would have lived through this if I had known where I was now?”
A government spokesman said: “We inherited the system of student loans designed by the previous government, including Schedule 2. Threshold freezes were introduced to protect taxpayers and students as well as future generations of students and workers.
“The student finance system protects low-income graduates with repayments determined by income and outstanding loans and cancellation of interest at the end of repayment terms.”
