Firstly, all loans are provided by the government and they do charge interest. With the current system (for loans since 2012), the interest rate is based on how much you earn - it varies from 1.6% to 4.6%.

The amount you repay is based on how much you earn. If you earn under £21k you don't pay anything. Above that you pay 9% of your income (pre-tax) - if you are an employee it's taken directly from your salary.

Although it's a loan, it isn't typically classed as debt the same as a credit card or mortgage. If you want a mortgage to buy a house, the bank will want to know how much you pay each month, but they won't factor in how much you have left to pay, on the decision to give you a mortgage.

The amount a high education institute can charge is capped at £9,000/year, however a lot of universities charge less, and if you are from a poor background you can usually get a good amount of funding from the government.

After 30 years if you haven't repayed everything, the rest of the loan will be written off.

[0] Scotland is different in that they have no fees for Scottish and EU students, where as students from the rest of the UK have to pay the usual fees.