By bizn_fun 
Charlene Young, senior pension and savings expert at investment platform AJ Bell, said some of the rise in voluntary payments would be down to top-earning graduates like Hilary, but that it was “very likely that parents and family are stepping in to foot the bill”.
She said that created “an even bigger gap between those who have family financial support and those who don’t”.
“Care is needed” when weighing up whether to overpay, she said, adding that two thirds of students who started university in 2022 are expected to see their balance written off, meaning that money could have gone to better use elsewhere.
Nick Bell, 74, a retired chartered accountant from Chester, received a lump sum in 2020 from the sale of his shares in a private company and used it to pay off the £51,000 balance on his son’s Plan 2 student loan.
He said it seemed “a rational and fair thing” to do.
“I didn’t think he should be saddled with it, so I paid it off.”
Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education at the National Union of Students, said it was “not surprising that any graduate who can is making voluntary payments”, because of the high levels of interest.
“They have been able to escape a broken system, while millions more remain trapped,” he said.
The Student Loans Company advises customers to speak to a financial adviser if they are unsure whether they should make extra repayments or not.