3 years at university, 11 to pay for it
People graduating from university spend on average 11 years paying for their student life.
That is according to a new study by uSwitch.com that shows in the last ten years student debt has rocketed 167 per cent to an average £11,123 a student with some graduates leaving university with a £30,000 debt to go with their degree.
"The cost of attending university has risen over time, partly due to increased tuition fees and, to a lesser extent, due to increased housing costs," said Mike Naylor, uSwitch personal finance expert.
"As a result, more money than ever is being borrowed by students to fund their way through university, with some students starting work with debts of up to £30,000.
"It is inevitable that this will have a knock on effect on their lives and future life events will have to be put on ice until the money is available. Since 1997, three million graduates have delayed getting married, having kids or buying a house by at least six years due to the crippling effects of student debt."
As well as soaring debt levels, the number of students taking out loans has also rocketed - from 430,400 in 1997 to 880,700 now, with more than 7.5 million loans taken out in the last ten years.
In addition to twice as many people taking out loans, the amount of time taken to pay them off has also doubled - from an average of six years in 1997 to eleven years today.
Things become worse again when the level of debt is compared with starting salaries. While the average loan has risen by 167 per cent since 1997, the average starting salary has risen by just 51 per cent in the same period - meaning debts are increasing more than three times as fast as earnings.
And in more misery for graduates, this period has also seen their prospects of getting on the property ladder fall.
House prices have risen 203 per cent in the same time - four times the speed that graduate salaries have climbed.
"In the majority of cases, graduates will earn a higher than average salary in the long-term and are potentially an important source of ongoing income to lenders," Mr Naylor said.
"However, both the banks and The Student Loans Company have a moral obligation to ensure that students fully understand the debt that they are taking on and how much it is going to cost them. Otherwise students will start their careers shackled to debt which limits their options and narrows their horizons."
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