Ican pinpoint the moment I drank the Kool-Aid. I was 17 when I decided to fill out my UCAS application and study history in London, the UK’s most expensive city. But the real financial misstep came much earlier, when UCAS visited my school. “At 0 per cent interest, it will be the best loan you will ever take out,” the representatives told an assembly of GCSE students.

And it was, back then. In 2010, as I was looking at universities, my sister was a recent graduate. She paid just £10 a month before tax for her loan. The cost-benefit analysis was an easy sum: the loan is worry-free and affordable. Everyone still believed that university equalled a higher earning power, which meant that a student loan could be paid as easily as it was issued.

Fifteen years later, graduate salaries have

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