Even worse, it means many students have lost the fear of debt, and ended up taking out credit cards or payday loans – after all, if the Government enforces you to 'borrow', what can be wrong with it?

Yet the truth is what we call a student loan isn't really a debt like any other, in fact it acts far more like a tax than a loan. After all...

It's repaid through the income tax system.

You only repay it if you earn over a certain amount.

The amount repaid increases with earnings.

It does not go on credit files.

Debt collectors will not chase for it.

Bigger borrowing doesn't increase repayments.

Many people will continue to repay for the majority of their working life.

But in reality it isn't a tax, it's more of a contributory contract. In effect though, it's somewhere between the two.

Time to change the name

So if we're looking for a name for this hybrid form of finance, let's try "contribution", as used in Australia. Below are a few key student loan facts where I've changed the word 'repay' to 'contribute', and suddenly they make more sense:

You need only contribute if you earn enough (£25,000 in a year) once you graduate.

Your contributions are taken via the payroll.

The more financially successful you are, the more you will contribute in total.

If you don't earn enough, you don't have to contribute.

You only have to contribute for 30 years.

Suddenly this fear of debt looks ridiculous. Would a student say: "I'm not going to university, because if I'm a high earner afterwards they'll ask me for a contribution to my education." Of course not. They'd relish the financial success, and be assured that if they didn't do too well, they wouldn't contribute as much or even nothing at all.

The same is true of parents. Many say: "I'm worried my child will be £50,000 in debt when they leave university, I will do all I can to prevent it." However, I've never heard anyone say: "I'm worried my child will earn enough to be a higher-rate taxpayer after university, I'm saving up now to pay their tax for them."

Let's take this a step further, and put the 'contribution' within the model of income tax. Take a look at this table: