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Monday 28 September 2026Home of the higher education debate

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Podcast: Student finance, graduate premium, mental health

This week on the podcast the government has struggled to defend its position on Plan 2 student loans in a Westminster Hall debate

Podcasts|1/03/26
Image: Wonkhe
Team Wonkhe

Team Wonkhe

News, analysis and explanation of higher education issues from our leading team of wonks
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  • Politics
  • The Wonkhe Show
Team Wonkhe
News, analysis and explanation of higher education issues from our leading team of wonks

This week on the podcast the government has struggled to defend its position on Plan 2 student loans in a Westminster Hall debate as opposition parties offer competing sticking plasters – but can any of the proposals survive contact with the maths, and is a proper funding review now inevitable?

Plus there’s cross-national evidence that suggests Britain's shrinking graduate premium is a demand-side problem that cutting courses won't fix, and a new study that finds student mental health services are bigger than ever but the students who need them most can't afford to reach them.

With Mary Curnock Cook CBE, independent educationalist and former Chief Executive of UCAS, Martin Priestley, Head of Education at Mills and Reeve, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe and presented by Mark Leach, Editor in Chief at Wonkhe.

On the site:

If the graduate premium is falling, supply-side tinkering won’t bring it back.

Student loan reform is coming. But not without a proper review.

The support paradox is a poverty problem.

Transcript (auto generated)

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