England's universities went from public institutions to businesses competing for tuition revenue, and this film tracks what that shift cost. Fees have climbed steadily since the 2000s reforms that let universities charge students directly, pushing graduates into long-term debt before they earn their first paycheck. The film argues that as fees rose, so did pressure on institutions to keep enrollment numbers up, and asks whether that pressure has quietly lowered academic standards even as a degree becomes a baseline requirement for jobs that never used to need one. It weighs the promised payoff, higher earnings and better job prospects, against the reality facing graduates carrying five- and six-figure debt into a job market that treats a degree as a minimum credential rather than an achievement. The argument centers on England specifically, tracing how a system built on accessibility turned into one built on revenue, and leaves open whether the current model of funding higher education through student debt is sustainable.