| Report / Article | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Politicians are missing the third choice for school leavers | 12 Aug 2026 | Paul Wiltshire argues it isn't a binary choice between university and a trade — politicians are overlooking a third route where ambitious school leavers enter skilled non-manual careers directly as trainees, without needing a degree. TaxPayers' Alliance, 12 August 2026 |
| Appraisal of the 2026 Graduate Labour Market Outcomes (LEO) report | 12 Jul 2026 | This report examines the new DfE Graduate Labour Market Outcomes (LEO) report, focusing on its findings on the effect of Prior Academic Attainment on graduate and non-graduate pay outcomes. |
| I hated how my kids were forced to go to uni – I’m devastated to be proven right | 08 Jul 2026 | Paul Wiltshire reflects on two years of campaigning against Mass HE, and on new DfE figures which confirm that outside the top 20% of academic ability, graduates earn no more than non-graduates of the same prior attainment. The i Paper, 8 July 2026 |
| The real university mis-selling scandal | 07 Jul 2026 | Earlier this week, MPs found that the Department for Education had mis-sold student loans. Paul Wiltshire contends that the real mis-selling is much, much worse, and sets out his fresh analysis of the new Graduate Labour Market Outcomes and IFS lifetime earnings reports. TaxPayers' Alliance, 7 July 2026 |
| Open Letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation asking them to open a case to look into both the misleading Graduate Labour Market Outcomes report and the IFS net lifetime earnings report | 07 Jul 2026 | Open Letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation asking them to open a case to look into both the misleading Graduate Labour Market Outcomes report and the IFS net lifetime earnings report. |
| Appraisal of the 2026 DfE / IFS report 'New Estimates of the impact of undergraduate degrees on lifetime earnings' | 07 Jul 2026 | This report compares the newly-released 2026 IFS lifetime earnings report to the 2020 version, and investigates how it deals with rising %HE participation and the resulting lower levels of prior academic attainment among graduates. |
| How do I hate Mass HE? Let me count the ways | 26 Jun 2026 | Graduate outcomes are getting worse. This 10-point plan lists the issues with Mass HE and the interventions required to fix the dysfunctional HE sector market. |
| It should be hard for a school leaver to get into University and easier to get a job. Not the other way around | 09 Apr 2026 | The Robbins Principle has been stretched beyond its reasonable limit by a commercially-motivated HE sector, leaving hundreds of thousands of graduates each year with debt but no genuine career benefit — competing for jobs they could have done straight from school. TaxPayers' Alliance, 9 April 2026 |
| Why does DfE subcontract graduate statistics to the IFS? | 06 Mar 2026 | Paul Wiltshire argues that influential IFS reports on the graduate premium risk distorting public understanding of higher education's financial value, and that subcontracting them allows the DfE to bypass Office for Statistics Regulation scrutiny. Wonkhe, 6 March 2026 |
| Parents are scamming their own children by sending them to university | 03 Mar 2026 | University has been sold to young people as the gateway to opportunity, yet the cost of that promise has risen dramatically. The i Paper, 3 March 2026 |
| Finally, the day of reckoning has come for Blair's ruinous Mass Higher Education policy | 21 Feb 2026 | The level of cost and the waste associated with sending half the country to University is enormous, and no-one's keen to pay for it. TaxPayers' Alliance, 21 February 2026 |
| Graduates were sold a lie on debt — now we have a duty to help | 05 Feb 2026 | Students who took out huge loans for pointless courses were wrong, but we all pushed them into it, says Paul Wiltshire, a campaigner against mass higher education. The Times, 5 February 2026 |
| Student Loans - How to turn despondency into hope | 28 Jan 2026 | There is a growing realisation that a high proportion of Graduates are in an inescapable Student Loan Debt trap where they are liable for an extra 9% effective 'tax' for the next 30/40 years. This report explores why this is happening, the harms it is causing & what can be done about it. |
| Open Letter to Helen Miller at the IFS | 19 Jan 2026 | Open letter to Helen Miller pointing out the errors and flaws of the 2020 IFS report on Net Lifetime earnings of Graduates, and raising concerns that it has misled the public by over stating the value of spending three more years in study getting a degree. |
| Martin Lewis has spent 15 years telling us black is white when it comes to student loans | 18 Dec 2025 | Lewis has been at the heart of student finance since 2011, leading government-backed task forces and collaborating with the university lobby. TaxPayers' Alliance, 18 December 2025 |
| Times Higher Education journalists name the change-makers at the heart of the sector's biggest debates over the past 12 months | 15 Dec 2025 | The "graduate premium" has been labelled a "myth" in some quarters – partly as a result of the efforts of Paul Wiltshire. Times Higher Education, 15 December 2025 |
| Graduate outcome statistics will never show where HE opportunity ends and fleecing begins | 20 Nov 2025 | Better graduate outcome data will not be enough to fix the fundamental flaws of mass Higher Education. Intergenerational Foundation, 20 November 2025 |
| Why Graduate outcome statistics won't fix the malfunctioning bloated HE Sector market | 18 Nov 2025 | This report questions the narrative that the proposed expansion in 2026 of the various Govt statistical reports on Graduate career outcomes is supposed to improve both information for prospective students and govt decision-making about %HE participation rates and thus fix the growing problems for graduates. |
| New V levels must act as a direct route into the workplace, not enable more to go to University | 31 Oct 2025 | If you are not particularly academic, spending three years pursuing a degree isn't likely to improve your pay prospects a great deal, if at all. TaxPayers' Alliance, 31 October 2025 |
| The graduates who will never pay off a student loan | 28 Oct 2025 | Students with lower grades are not expected to repay their debt in the 40-year period. The Telegraph, 28 October 2025 |
| The Graduate Debt Trap & Lower Academic Entry standards | 21 Oct 2025 | HE% participation has risen drastically over the last 30 years, inevitably drawn from those with lower prior academic attainment. |
| University over-expansion has led to the farce of pretend graduate jobs | 18 Aug 2025 | Employers are confining many low-skilled roles to graduates. Why should they care that this requires recruits to take on huge debt? Times Higher Education, 18 August 2025 |
| The 'pretend' graduate jobs propping up Britain's bloated universities | 14 Aug 2025 | A new report warns of 'pretend' opportunities for degree holders – low-skill roles saddling young people with debt for little gain. The Telegraph, 14 August 2025 |
| Discrimination and Pretence of Graduate-only Jobs | 14 Aug 2025 | This report gauges the prevalence of Graduate-only job adverts and explores whether they are Genuine or Pretend Graduate roles. It also considers implications for school leavers and whether this is discriminatory against non-graduates. |
| Appraisal of the DfE / IFS report 'The impact of undergraduate degrees on lifetime earnings' | 19 Jul 2025 | This DfE / IFS report was published in 2020; since then it has been highly influential and it is still being quoted today. This appraisal investigates the method and basis of the report findings and recommends that it should be withdrawn. |
| My kids all went to uni - I'm spending my retirement proving it's a waste | 24 Jun 2025 | All I could do was try to guide them into choosing their course carefully. The i Paper, 24 June 2025 |
| So now it's official. The 'graduate premium' is a myth | 05 Jun 2025 | Misleading the public on the benefits of higher education is a gross exercise in mass exploitation. The Telegraph, 5 June 2025 |
| Public misled on value of university, says government watchdog | 31 May 2025 | Figures claiming to show graduates out-earn non-graduates by more than £10,000 a year are flawed, says OSR. The Telegraph, 31 May 2025 |
| The man who proved university is a waste of money | 23 Apr 2025 | When Paul Wiltshire studied his daughter's prospects for work after her degree, he found it's not the ticket to success trumpeted by many. The Telegraph, 23 April 2025 |
| There is more than one version of "student loan fraud" | 25 Mar 2025 | Argues the HE sector is mis-selling degrees to unsuspecting young adults and extracting fee income via student loans on an industrial scale. Intergenerational Foundation, 25 March 2025 |
| The UK fails students by not facing up to diminishing graduate returns | 20 Mar 2025 | Averages aren't enough. We need to know when HE expansion causes the marginal premium to disappear. Times Higher Education, 20 March 2025 |
| Why is the average Graduate Premium falling? | 20 Mar 2025 | An investigation into govt statistics on graduate outcomes and the Graduate premium; this work led to the DfE agreeing to discontinue the annual Graduate Labour Market Statistics report. |
| The fall in graduate salaries shows the argument for mass entry to higher education has failed | 25 Oct 2024 | Research shows that graduate starting salaries have converged towards the National Minimum Wage over time. HEPI, 25 October 2024 |
| As the father of four students, I think far too many people go to university | 15 Aug 2024 | A-level results day celebrations belie a vicious spiral of demand for degrees that damages students and society. Times Higher Education, 15 August 2024 |
| Maybe too many people go to university | 31 May 2024 | A debate on student numbers and how many people should go to university. Wonkhe, 31 May 2024 |
| The last thing UK students need is a higher maintenance loan | 16 May 2024 | Students already graduate with huge debts; rather than accepting more easy credit, they should do more paid work. Times Higher Education, 16 May 2024 |
| For their own good, we should force students to physically attend lectures | 27 Sep 2023 | Lockdowns demonstrated the damage isolation does to mental health; universities prolong it by recording lectures. Times Higher Education, 27 September 2023 |
| Isn't OfS supposed to support students to make good choices? | 28 Oct 2022 | Raises concerns with the regulation of commitments made to students about the nature of delivery on their programme. Wonkhe, 28 October 2022 |
