New students who start this year are deemed plan 2 under a new scheme. These students will be charged 5.5% from day one of their studies until they pay off the loan or within 30 years, whichever is sooner. The link for this is http://www.slc.co.uk/services/interest-rates.aspx Graduates will struggle to pay the interest charged on the loan so the student loan will rise over the years. For instance a graduate salary of ?25,000 will trigger an annual repayment of ?360 but this will not cover the interest payable (eg 5.5% on a loan of ?45,000 is ?2,475). Hence the loan increases by the difference, in this example, to ?47,115. The effect on the student and new graduate is defeatist. With little or no hope of preventing the ballooning of their student debt, the graduate is not motivated to pay. Presenting them with an impossible debt mountain that only the very highest earners ( possible just 1% of the population) can tackle is a recipe for disengaging with the system. The new system seems counter- productive for the government who surely want graduates to pay for their courses. Graduates know that their studies give them a higher chance of earning more and they accept, in general, they should pay for that privilege. Presenting graduates with an impossible student loan bill will turn responsible young people into cynical tax payers or tax avoiders or goad them to achieve less in their lives.