The IFS calculated that immediately scrapping the debt for university tuition would add £20bn to government debt, but that delaying the decision until the end of the current parliament in 2022 would add £60bn. A cheaper alternative would be to write off tuition fee debt above the £3,465 level of undergraduate fees charged before 2012 – which would add £10bn to government debt. The current level of £9,000-era tuition fee loans held by the government through the Student Loans Company is £34bn. Under the current system, student loan debt that is not repaid after 30 years is written off. The government could pay for the additional debt with a “modest increase” in the top rate of income tax, the IFS suggested.

Source: The Guardian September 15, 2017 16:30 UTC