2012 Students To Graduate With More Than GBP53k Debt

Tue, 16 Aug 2011

The average amount of money owed by UK graduates could double next year following the introduction of higher tuition fees, according to new research.

A survey of more than 2,800 students from 115 institutions, carried out by the Push university guide, suggested that the average student debt could rise from £26,100 to £53,400 under the new regime.

Push researchers looked at all the debts, apart from mortgages, accrued by UK students and some postgraduates around the UK. They then used the rate at which debts have increased in the past to project future rises, as well as factoring in the almost 300 per cent rise in tuition fees in England to a maximum of £9,000 from 2012.

They forecast that UK students leaving university this year will have an average debt of £26,100, while those starting courses n 2012 can expect to graduate with debts averaging £53,400.

Push publisher Johnny Rich said he thought the projection had an error margin of around 10 per cent, and was higher than he had expected.

But he stressed that students planning on going to university next year "shouldn't be put off" as "the debt will not be a normal debt ".

The Push survey also revealed that students currently owe a quarter per cent of their debt to organisations other than the Student Loans Company, with 5 per cent lent by banks and 2 per cent by credit card companies.
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