Government under pressure over student loan change

Petition against decision to freeze repayment threshold reaches 120,000 signatures

The government is coming under intense pressure to reverse controversial changes to student loans, after one of the scheme's leading proponents, Martin Lewis, branded them a "disgrace", and a petition opposing them started by a Durham student hit the crucial 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a possible debate in parliament.

Last week, there was a huge outcry after it emerged that students are seeing their debts rise by as much as 180 a month because of the interest alone, with graduates charged 3.9% as the sum balloons. Many feel they have been duped and cheated. Students are also angry after the government backtracked on promises made in 2010 that the 21,000 earnings threshold - at which point students are required to pay back loans - would rise annually with average earnings.

Most students were not aware of this change " it certainly wasn't in the small print