Student loan protest outside Number 10. North

Student leaders from universities across the UK, along with Rethink Repayment and the National Union of Students (NUS), gathered outside Number 10 North on September 17, calling for a reform to student loans.

Among them were members of the University of Manchester Students' Union: City & Community officer Hasan Patel and Science & Engineering officer Jack Newton.

At the centre of the demonstration are the Plan 2 loans, which UK university students would have taken out between the 2012/13 and 2022/23 academic years. Students will repay 9% of their salary in excess of £29,835. Interest is based on the RPI plus 3% and accumulates during their time at university; it will be wiped after 30 years.

Led by George Charlton, President of The Union at Manchester Metropolitan University, they called for three reforms:

Unfreeze the Plan 2 repayment threshold to increase in line with inflationCalculate interest rates based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI)Reduce the monthly repayment rate from 9% to 5%

Credit: Margarida Vasconcelos

Rachel Reeves announced in the November 2025 budget that the repayment threshold for Plan 2 loans will be frozen, meaning graduates will repay more on their loans than if the thresholds rose with inflation. Coupled with fluctuating interest rates, which are now capped at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year but have reached as high as 12% in the past, graduates would be paying much more than they initially took out.

Days prior, students' Union officers from the five civic universities in Greater Manchester released a joint statement calling for "meaningful action" on student loans in the upcoming Autumn budget, noting that millions were mis-sold on the prospect of taking out loans.

In July, a Treasury Committee report revealed that the government did not inform students properly about the terms of the Plan 2 loans. They also said that comparing them to phone contracts in promotional material "amounted to mis-selling".

The government has agreed to change how the loans are sold to prospective students, but has rejected recommendations to ensure that the advertisements comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's standards.