The graduate earnings premium, used by the Tories to justify many

The words of Angela Rayner—“The graduate earnings premium, used by the Tories to justify many of their regressive higher education policies, is fast becoming a myth.”—resound like a challenge cast into the heart of modern society. They speak of the promises made to generations of young people, the oath whispered to them by governments and institutions: “Endure the toil of study, bear the burden of debt, and you shall be rewarded with prosperity.” Yet Rayner unmasks the deception, declaring that this earnings premium, once held as sacred truth, now fades into illusion. For many graduates find themselves not rising into wealth, but sinking into struggle, their sacrifices repaid with disappointment.

To speak of the graduate earnings premium is to recall the belief that a degree guarantees higher wages, a surer career, a more secure future. For decades, this promise justified the rising costs of higher education, and leaders claimed it as reason to shift the burden onto students themselves. “Pay now,” they said, “and reap rewards later.” Yet, as Rayner warns, this promise is breaking. Wages stagnate, opportunities narrow, and the cost of learning devours the very advantage it was meant to create. Thus, the so-called premium becomes not a gift, but a myth.

History has seen such false promises before. In the guilds of medieval Europe, apprentices were told that years of toil and obedience would earn them mastery and independence. Yet many never rose, trapped as laborers while their masters grew rich. So too today: countless young graduates, armed with degrees, find not golden gates but closed doors. Their knowledge is real, their work is honest, but the system denies them the prosperity once pledged. The lesson of the past repeats itself—when power uses hope as a tool, it risks turning hope into betrayal.

Rayner’s words also strike at the policies that exploit this myth. She names them regressive, for they place the heaviest burden not upon the wealthy but upon the striving poor and middle classes. Those born into privilege need not fear the weight of tuition or debt; they step into opportunity as their inheritance. But those who rise from humble beginnings are told to gamble their futures on loans and sacrifices, only to find the rewards diminished. Thus, the system becomes not a ladder but a trap, widening the very inequalities education was meant to close.

Consider the real-life story of many British graduates in recent decades. After completing their studies, they enter the workforce saddled with tens of thousands in debt, only to find wages no higher than those of their peers without degrees. The dream of the earnings premium dissolves, and they delay homes, families, and futures. Their debt is not the mark of advancement, but the chain of injustice. And as this pattern grows more common, the myth unravels before the eyes of an entire generation.

The lesson for us, then, is to question the promises of systems that demand sacrifice without fairness. Education must not be defended with myths, but reformed with truth. If society truly values learning, it must bear the cost justly, ensuring that the pursuit of wisdom does not become the privilege of the few, nor the curse of the indebted. Leaders must be held to account, and citizens must not accept gilded lies in place of honest opportunity.

So, O seeker, take this charge: do not be lulled by myths that conceal injustice. Look with clear eyes at the promises made, and demand that they be honored not in word alone, but in deed. Support reforms that make education a public good, not a private burden. Share the truth that the worth of learning is not measured in wages alone, but in the flourishing of lives and societies. For only then will the chains of the false premium be broken, and education restored as the noble right of all, untainted by deception.