Hundreds of thousands of graduates will celebrate finishing university this month, but the Student Loans Company rather rained on their parade this week by reporting that debts soared by more than £3bn last year.
The introduction of annual tuition fees up to £3,000 last September pushed the total owed by current and former students in England and Wales to the Student Loans Company to an eye-watering £19bn. This does not include other debts run up with banks, parents and elsewhere.
Students graduating last summer were saddled with an average total debt of just over £13,250 per head, according to the NatWest Student Money Matters Survey, while the National Union of Students estimates that those graduating in 2009 will owe an average of around £30,000.
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