Sir Nick Clegg has said the university tuition system is “deeply unfair” for students and suggested there could be a future institution which oversees the terms of student loans.
The former Liberal Democrats leader and deputy prime minister admitted some responsibility for costly tuition fees, which were increased during his time in government.
Sir Nick told the BBC he would take any criticism of the role “on the chin”, adding he was not responsible for later changes, including the repeated freezing of the graduate repayment threshold.
“I think graduates quite rightly feel very sore, because they're sort of running to stand still,” Sir Nick said.
While deputy prime minister, his coalition government trebled tuition fees in England to a maximum of £9,000 a year from 2012.
Sir Nick eventually apologised for failing to stop the increase and for breaking an election pledge.
During a Bite the Ballot questions and answers session with young voters, Sir Nick said that he “should not make promises on that whole issue without being really sure that it is right, in the first place, and that it can be kept”.
Students who took a loan between September 2012 and July 2023 are all under a Plan 2 loan, which means graduates have to pay nine per cent on everything they earn over a threshold, which is currently £28,470 a year.
In her autumn budget, Rachel Reeves announced that the salary at which Plan 2 loans must be paid back will be frozen at £29,385 between 2027 and 2030, which effectively increases the amount you will have to pay over time.
Sir Nick told the BBC that the priority for the government should be restoring maintenance grants and the link between inflation and the earnings threshold where graduates begin repaying.
The government announced that it would be reintroducing targeted maintenance grants for disadvantaged students by 2029.
Sir Nick also suggested there could be scope in the future for an independent institution to oversee the terms of student loans, to increase fairness and trust.
There have been growing calls for the government to reform the student loan system to ensure that students aren’t leaving university with increasing debt.
Last month, Labour MPs hit out at the government’s “regressive” student loan system as they called for a change to the “dog's dinner”.
Sir Keir Starmer said in February that he would look at ways to make the loan system fairer, however, no changes to student loans were announced at the spring statement.
Education minister Bridget Phillipson also promised to look at Plan 2 loans but refused to commit to bringing in any changes.
The Treasury and Department for Education have been contacted for comment.
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