'Crippling debt'?

Apparently future students in the UK might have to pay up to £9,000 a year for their tuition fees. This is a fair whack of money and you hear that people will be put off studying by the "crippling debt" they will emerge with.

This term is, however, hyperbole of the highest order. The plans are apparently as follows:

• The threshold at which graduates have to start paying their loans back would be raised from £15,000 to £21,000. This is more like the situation was when I took out my loan, and is reasonably favourable. You can live adequately on less than £21,000 in most parts of the country (ie. anywhere that isn't London) and such people won't be paying anything at all. It's a threshold of £1750 gross per month before you pay anything back, which isn't bad.
• Graduates would pay back 9% of their income each month above that threshold.  Let's say you earn £25,000 a year - a pretty average graduate salary I'd say. That's £2083 a month, of which £333.33 is over the threshold. 9% of £333.33 is a £30 payment. (If you earn £29,000 then you're paying £60 back a month - but you're earning £1800 after tax anyway.)

How much is an extra £30, really, when you're already bringing in about £1600 after tax? Is this level of debt 'crippling'? Hardly.

I don't mind people making ideological arguments that education should be free or whatever, but I don't like people using complete exaggeration to paint the Government as callously ruining the lives of thousands when the actual economic reality is far less draconian.