It doesn't matter what the tuition fees are - £10k, £100k, £1 billion per year/term/day, you pay 9% of your income over £21,000. Your effective income tax (including national insurance) is
£0-£8k 0%
£8k-£11k 12%
£11k-£21k 32%
£21k-£43k 41%
£43k+ 52%
Plus another 14%ish from the employer, and things beyond £50k being muddier with child benefit, higher income tax bands, reduction in personal thresholds, etc
In an ideal world only 10% of 18 year olds would go to university, and that 10% would be based on ability, not on wealth. When Labour introduced this "everyone to university" view, it reduced the workforce (it was aged 21-65 rather than 18-65), thus kept unemployment down, however was unaffordable. By making people pay for their courses this allowed the system to be affordable, and by making the repayments occur based on income after graduation it meant that those who benefitted from university but graduated to do a low paid but essential jobs (nurses etc) paid little - £30k a year is under £70 a month. It meant those that didn't benefit from university but instead went and got a job aged 18 didn't pay anything, and those who went on to be £200k a year stockbrokers weren't getting their education subsidised by the rest of the country.
It's a graduate tax, but with a provision to recoup investment in people who have left the country, it's immensely fair.
Were I still young I'd be far more concerned with the costs of housing. £60k of student debt is nothing compared with a £500k 2 bed apartment in the south east.
