Graduation ceremonies are stalked by the ghost of student debt

Having recently attended graduation ceremonies at three universities, IF Co-Founder Angus Hanton has been struck by a streak of very British reserve that ran through all of them and that is the willingness of higher education institutions to take large sums of money from students without a single mention of money, fees, pay or student… Read more »

A-Level Day for Generation COVID

Hundreds of thousands of students have received their A-Level grades having navigated another year of educational disruption thanks to COVID-19-related government policy. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, looks at the numbers and calls for more financial government support for higher education students. Two-thirds of students make grades Two-thirds of students will gain entry to their first… Read more »

Feeding off students, yet again

In a week full of news, the government slipped out the announcement that student loan interest rates will be capped. That might sound like good news for students, but as Liz Emerson, IF co-founder explains, the young will be paying back much more than ever before, and for longer. The cap The retail price index… Read more »

Packhorse Generation: how the cost of living crisis disproportionately impacts the young

On 7 June IF is hosting a webinar (sign-up here) on the cost-of-living crisis facing young people. In this article, John Hobby, IF researcher, explains the economic backdrop to the mounting financial pressures facing younger generations. Consumer price inflation hit 9% in April, a four decade high that will squeeze the spending power of the… Read more »

Regressive student finance plans will punish low and middle earners the most

The upcoming changes to the student loan system is yet another stealth tax on young people, which will hit middle-income and low-income graduates the hardest. In the press release, the government argues that these changes will ensure that the problem is not “passed on to future generations”, but the reality is quite the opposite. In… Read more »