Meet a millennial radio host in England with 62,000 pounds in student debt who says he's 'not that worried about it' — even though 'there's no option to pay it all off'

• Jordan Lee, 28, has 62,000 pounds in student debt and works as a radio host in Manchester, England.
• He said because of the UK's repayment system that clears debt after 30 years, he's not too uneasy.

This story is part of a series called "Millennial World," which seeks to examine the state of the generation around the globe.

Jordan Lee always knew he was interested in the entertainment industry. He probably could have avoided the debt that came with preparing for it.

He said he and his peers were told that attending a university was the natural next step after high school. At the time, he knew that he loved to dance, so he decided to go to a dance conservatory in London — and no one ever suggested to him that he do anything else.

Lee, who's now 28 and living in Manchester, England, graduated in 2016 and has a steady job as a radio host — but he also has 62,000 pounds, or about $76,900, in student debt that's always sitting in the back of his mind.

"When I got a slip recently where I paid 1,300 pounds on my student loan, I was like, this doesn't feel right," Lee told Insider. "This is way too much, and it does kind of affect you. It definitely makes you feel like, was it a waste of money? But you can't go back, so you're kind of stuck in this catch-22 vibe."

But unlike for many Americans, Lee's student-debt load is not a constant worry for him. That's because in the United Kingdom, student-loan borrowers know their loans will be written off after a certain number of years in repayment. In the meantime, monthly payments are required to receive eventual relief, and spiking interest rates have made that more of a burden. Plus, broad relief like President Joe Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers isn't even a part of the national conversation.

"There is no way that any party in the UK would just go, 'There you go. There's your debt gone,'" Lee said. "If they do, my jaw will be on the floor."

'The interest is just an unbelievable amount'

On Biden's proposal, Lee said he felt "a bit jealous."

"I think in a lot of people's eyes, it doesn't impact people enough for that to happen in the UK," he said.

But that's not necessarily the case.

Monthly payments for undergraduate debt amount to 9% of borrowers' incomes, and the interest rate on those payments varies depending on the borrower's income bracket.

With the promise of forgiveness comes consequences for failing to make payments. According to the UK government, anyone who does not fulfill their repayment obligations could be subject to a court order requiring them to repay the total debt, plus interest and penalties, in a single payment.

And the time to relief varies depending on income. Lee said he fell within the second income bracket, meaning his loans are set to be written off 30 years after the first April he began repayment.

"I'm not that worried about it," Lee said. "Because if you worry about it too much, then you'll get really depressed because it's an awful amount of money."

In addition, because of the rising cost of living in the UK, the government in August capped interest rates on student loans at 6.3% after they were expected to rise to 7.3%. Still, that increase has hit borrowers hard, and Lee said the surging interest made it impossible for him to stay on top of the original amount in student loans he took out.

"I think once I left, it was about 45,000 pounds, and now it's 62,000. The interest is just an unbelievable amount," Lee said. "There's no option to pay it all off because the way that it's set up, I owe more money now than I did this time last year because the interest is so high."

High interest rates that prevent borrowers from paying off their principal balance is not unique to the UK. As Insider has previously reported, many Americans with student debt are being crushed by high interest rates that are keeping them in a cycle of repayment far longer than anticipated. One couple, for example, started with $54,000 in student debt, paid $140,000 toward it, and still owe $130,000 — all thanks to surging interest rates on student loans in the US.

Despite the high interest on the monthly payments, Lee said "the one good thing about it" was the debt load did not show up on his credit score. Still, according to the government website, mortgage lenders might consider the student-loan amount when determining how much a person can borrow.

Lee said he's grateful he had the experience of going to college — but he added that he "probably would not have gone" if it weren't so easy to take on such a large amount of debt.

"If you were constantly reminded you will owe 50,000 pounds, I think that would put off so many people," Lee said. "And I think that's probably the reason why they don't hammer that home and they make it so easy.

"If I'm not thinking about the money, no regrets doing it. If I was thinking about it more, absolutely, I probably wouldn't have gone."

Lee said he thought the education system in the UK needed to change because it's difficult for a teenager to understand the consequences of taking on five figures in student debt for a degree that might not end up being useful.

"At 18, you're supposed to decide what your life plan is," Lee said. "When it comes to university and getting a degree, it's like, there's the 50,000 pounds debt there. There's the degree. You've got to choose one thing to do. And I think it's just so heavy to put that on people at that age."

He added: "Education, when it comes to money, is not good enough in this country, and it really needs to be better, especially when you're making life-changing decisions like that. The government may argue that it's small, but no, it's 50,000 pounds of debt that you're putting students in.

"Some people are lucky enough to be able to pay that off, and some people will never pay it off."