Stark drop in Imperial graduate loan repayment over past two year
44% drop is second- sharpest in Russel Group as youth unemployment increases nationally.
The number of Imperial graduates repaying their student loans within two years of leaving the university has dropped by 44 percent between the years 2019-2024. The data, obtained by The Times via Freedom of Information request to the Student Loans Company, shows that the cumulative number of Russell Group graduates repaying their loans has dropped from approximately 57,000 annually, to 44,527 in 2024.
Imperial had the second-largest drop off at 44 percent (down from 1058 grads repaying in 2019 to only 597 in 2024), second only to the University of Southampton, with a relative drop of 47%.
Home students who chose to use the UK-government provided loans between 2012 and 2023 are on Plan 2: this means they will only need to repay once they earn over £28,470. The default payment option is 9% of earnings over the threshold with payments occurring monthly, starting from the first April after graduation, in line with the tax year, so long as the graduate has reached the salary threshold.
Economic uncertainty has caused a drop in youth (16- to 24-year-olds) employment: as many as 46% of jobs lost from company payrolls since June 2024 have been jobs for under-25’s. Youth unemployment has increased from 14.8% to 15.3%, approximately three times as high as the jobless rate for people over the age of 16.
Other factors, such as the proportion of graduates that enter postgraduate education instead of the job market and therefore delay repayment, also affect this figure. However, Imperial’s most recent data shows a slight decrease in graduates continuing education 15 months after graduating over the 2021-2023 period.
