Students to graduate with '£23,500 debts' (From Asian Image)

Students to graduate with '£23,500 debts'

1:44pm Monday 17th August 2009

Students heading to university this autumn will graduate with debts of up to £23,500, research published has suggested.

Undergraduates now owe on average £5,000 for each year of study, according to a poll of 2,000 students in all years at university.

But a breakdown of the figures, revealed days before A-level results are published, shows debt is rising year on year.

Undergraduates coming to the end of their first year of study can expect to owe £21,200 by the time they graduate, the Push Student Debt Survey found.

Those starting degree courses this autumn should count on owing at least £2,000 more than that, around £23,500 in total, the survey suggested.

Students completing their third year of studying owe £13,874.

The study also reveals students in England owe considerably more than their peers in other parts of the UK.

Average debt per year of study in England is £5,271, compared to £4,021 in Wales, £2,194 in Scotland and £4,324 in Northern Ireland.

Johnny Rich, editor of Push.co.uk said: “With the economy in recession, students are even more concerned about debt than they have been in recent years.

”Finding part-time work has got harder and many students are facing real financial hardship and are worrying about what lies ahead. Even so, the advantages of having a degree still vastly outweigh the costs and the Push survey shows that - with high quality advice and information - students can keep their debts down while still enjoying the benefits of university.

”These figures will give next year’s review of student funding a real headache. They beg the question whether we’ve now passed the point where students can be expected to stump up any more towards their education.”

From this autumn, tuition fees will stand at £3,225 per year.

Under current rules, students can claim a loan to cover the cost of tuition fees, plus extra for living costs. There are also grants for the poorest students.

Loans begin to be repaid after a student graduates and is earning more than £15,000.

A review of tuition fees is due to begin this year, but will not end until after the next general election.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said: “With this year’s new university students set to graduate with over £23,000 of debt, and graduate employment opportunities at an all-time low, we find it astonishing that universities continue to demand ever higher fees.”

He added: “The forthcoming review of university funding must look at alternatives to the disastrous current system of top up fees. We are in danger of condemning an entire generation to a lifetime of debt.”

Universities have been pressing for more funding, but raising the fee cap is likely to be hugely unpopular with the public.

A Universities UK report published in March found that by 2016, a graduate’s average debt would be £26,400 if fees were raised to £5,000.Students heading to university this autumn will graduate with debts of up to £23,500, research published today suggested.