Student Debt Soars To Almost GBP26 Billion

Fri, 26 Jun 2009

The level of debt facing university students in the UK has soared to nearly £26 billion, according to official figures.

Undergraduates took out £4.2 billion worth of loans from the Student Loans Company to help cover the cost of tuition fees in 2008/09, up £300million – or 7.6 per cent – from the previous year’s figure.

As a result, Britain’s student and graduate population now owes almost £26 billion in outstanding loans, including those not yet due for repayment .

Commenting on the figures, Liberal Democrat universities spokesman Stephen Williams said: "This Government has saddled graduates with billions of pounds of debt . As a result, students leaving university this year will have built up mountains of debt just as they enter an extremely tough job market.

"Tuition fees must be scrapped altogether," he added. "Students from all backgrounds should be able to go to university without having thousands of pounds of debt hanging over their heads after they graduate ."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the increase in student loan debt "is to be expected as the system matures and more students go into higher education ".

The debt figures come as universities press for tuition fees to be raised in order to maintain the quality of the higher education sector.

The government is due to begin a review of the student fees cap this year, which currently stands at £3,145 per year.

According to a recent Universities UK report, the average graduate will be £26,400 in debt by 2016 if fees are raised to the proposed £5,000-a-year.
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