The figures, obtained by Labour's former universities minister John Denham, show that writing off students' debts plus net lending – the amount loaned to students less the amount they repay – will add up to more than £8bn by the 2040s, or 0.6 per cent of UK GDP.
The difference is that money will now flow to colleges via students, who will be handed a lump of cash upfront to pay for their fees, which they will repay later after they graduate and once they earn something close to the average national income.
Lending to borrowers who will be over 65 when they repay their mortgage accounted for 35% of total lending at the end of 2014.
That will keep an increasing number of graduates below the repayment threshold, and even if they reach the threshold they will repay at the lower rate, in line with their lower income.
Students will get loans to cover the costs, and they will repay through a progressive graduate contribution scheme.
They earned it 225 years ago, and they will repay you nicely if you offer this easy concession, as John F. Kennedy discovered when he and Jackie lit up Versailles in 1961.
The first optional pre-payment date for the loans falls on Wednesday, and several of Spain's biggest banks, including BBVA, Banco Popular and Sabadell, have said they will repay a significant chunk of the loans, signalling that they have garnered enough confidence from other lenders to begin taking themselves off the ECB's emergency drip.
Zimplats will lend the two trusts the money for the share purchases, which they will repay from dividends assuming these continue.
"But they should come and talk to the TMSF and present a plan on how they will repay their debts," Mr. Cicek said.
"Unless they put the money in a lockbox, which they haven't, the politicians are going to spend the money," he said, and say they will repay the loans with future taxes.
