In a move that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever stared at their student loan statement, more than 120 MPs and peers have asked the Chancellor to carry out an 'urgent review' of the student loan repayment system.

The open letter, coordinated by the campaign group Rethink Repayment, says the current setup places an 'unsustainable burden on the next generation of workers.' Because nothing says 'supporting aspiration' like watching your take-home pay get devoured by a debt that grows faster than your ability to repay it.

Among the cross-party signatories are MPs with their own Plan 2 student loans - the ones that have come under particular scrutiny this year, and for good reason. Last week, Education Secretary Lucy Powell called the interest rate on those loans 'egregious' and said the issue was at the top of her in-tray. Finally, a politician who understands the existential dread of watching your balance balloon while you're just trying to buy a sandwich.

Current and former students have different loan plans depending on where they live in the UK and when they went to university. The letter doesn't specify a particular plan, but the debate has centred on Plan 2 loans - taken out by students in England between September 2012 and July 2023, and still issued in Wales. Graduates pay back 9% of anything they earn above the repayment threshold.

The letter argues that 'successive governments' adjustments to repayment thresholds - together with high interest and marginal tax rates - are placing an unsustainable burden on the next generation of workers.' It notes that many middle-income graduates 'see less than half of any hard-earned pay rise due to a combination of income tax, national insurance, and student loan repayments.' So much for the 'graduate premium.'

The letter also references a decision by then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves last November to freeze the Plan 2 repayment threshold at £29,385 between 2027 and 2030, rather than letting it rise with inflation. That means students would start repaying sooner, and as their salaries rise, they'd repay even more. Campaigners want that reversed - a call echoed by the Treasury select committee in a report last month.

The committee's report cited a BBC investigation that found the government compared Plan 2 repayments to £30-a-month phone contracts in promotional presentations to teenagers a decade ago. This was 'inaccurate for higher earners' and 'amounted to mis-selling.' Because nothing says 'trust us with your financial future' like comparing a 30-year debt to a mobile phone plan.

Laura Trott (shadow education secretary for the Conservatives) and Munira Wilson (education spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats) are among the signatories. Tom Gordon, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, told the BBC he can't 'see an end in sight' to his own Plan 2 repayments and expects his debt to be written off after 30 years. 'If someone earning an MP's salary still isn't likely to repay their student loan in full, what chance does someone on a much lower income have?' he asked. Quite.

Gordon also highlighted the unfairness of retrospective changes: 'Governments have changed the repayment terms and increased interest rates after people had already signed up... No bank or mortgage lender could retrospectively rewrite the terms of a loan like that. It simply wouldn't be allowed. So why should the government be able to do it?'

Oliver Gardner, founder of Rethink Repayment, said the letter shows the student loans crisis is 'not a partisan issue' and that it's time to 'unshackle millions of graduates from mountains of student loan debt.'

The Department for Education responded: 'We know the system we inherited is broken and unfair... We want to make sure the student loans system works better for everyone and are considering our response to the Treasury Committee's inquiry.' In other words: we're thinking about it. Stay tuned.