Parents and grandparents are delaying retirement or getting by on lower pensions as they try to help young people pay off massive student loan debt. Millions of older people are making sacrifices to prevent younger generations from entering adult life with the millstone of debt around their neck, research by wealth management experts Rathbones found.

Concern about debt paid by graduates has grown after Chancellor Rachel Reeves froze the threshold for some loan repayments. It means some workers will pay 9% of their income above £29,385 to the Treasury, on top of income tax and National Insurance, with the threshold frozen until 2030 – meaning payments will increase in real terms.

One in four parents and grandparents who are funding education costs for children or grandchildren say they will delay retirement as a result, with many expecting to work at least three extra years.

One in four also expects to retire on a lower standard of living than originally planned. And 17% of those surveyed said they were cutting their pension contributions to help younger family members instead, meaning a lower income in retirement.

Charlie Newsome, senior investment director at Rathbones, said: “Many parents would rather work a few years longer themselves than see their children start their careers under the weight of substantial student debt.

“Rising tuition costs and higher borrowing costs have only strengthened the desire among families to provide as much support as they can.”

An inquiry by the House of Commons Treasury Committee into the student funding system has received 52,000 responses, far more than normal for any investigation by MPs.

About half of those writing to the Committee, 25,291, said they would not take out a student loan if they were given the choice again – even though most would not have been able to attend university without one.

University leaders fear that the growing costs of higher education, coupled with pessimism about future salaries, will lead young people to conclude that a degree is not worth it.

The chief executive of industry body Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, told MPs this week: “We all need people to go to university – our economy is changing, and lower-skilled jobs will be replaced by higher-skilled jobs.

“If we get to a tipping point and it starts to look like a bad deal, that is a problem for the whole of society, not just for the individuals who might lose out.”

The average student leaves university with more than £50,000 in loan debt, including course fees, capped at £9,790 annually in 2026-27, and loans taken out for living expenses.

Working graduates then make payments of 9% above a salary threshold, which varies depending on when they went to university. For students in England who took out loans between 2012 and 2023, the threshold is £29,385. They pay 9% of their salary above this level in addition to income tax and National Insurance.

The debts are also charged interest of up to 3% above the rate of inflation. It means some working graduates make payments each month but find the amount they owe continues to rise.