Student debt levels predicted to double

The annual Push Student Debt survey reveals that students joining university next month are likely to owe £26,100 by the time they finish their studies.

This is about £2,000 more than the debt totals expected for students who started courses last year.

But youngsters planning to go to university in 2012 – the first year of the tuition fee increase – could find themselves saddled with an expected debt of £53,400.

For those in England alone, where fees are estimated to average £8,630 next year, graduates should expect to finish university with average debts approaching £59,100, the survey found.

The poll, which questioned more than 2,800 students at 115 UK university campuses, calculated debt levels based on students liabilities in terms of fees, bank accounts and credit cards, money owed to parents, universities and other debts.

A student currently at university, in any year of study, is racking up an average debt of £5,681 per year, the survey found.

In England, this average debt is £5,876, in Wales it is £6,231, in Scotland it is £2,025 and in Northern Ireland £4,319.

The survey also reveals differences between universities.

At eight institutions, the average projected debt on graduation for anyone studying now is more than £30,000, while at 18 universities it is less than £10,000.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said: “Average student debt is already staggeringly high and is now set to get much worse.

“The government’s university funding plans are a recipe for disaster and will lead to people making important life choices on the basis of their ability to pay rather than their ability to learn.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said: “No one should be put off going to university for financial reasons.”