Debt of UK university students rises to £20bn

**Students studying at British universities in 2012-13 collectively owe almost £20 billion, but the level of debt has not prevented them from spending money.**

Although tuition fees formed the majority of the debt, commercial debt or debt to friends and family made up around 15 percent (£3bn) of the total, according to a recent report by YouGov SixthSense.

The findings show that students in the UK are spending more than they are earning in borrowed income. In total, students spent around £21bn in 2012/13, but had an income of only around £20bn.

For the average student this income was £9,708 including tuition fee loans, or £6,951 excluding tuition fee loans. But an excess of £726 per student was spent on top of this income. On average, students owe around £940 to financial companies and £469 to friends, family and other relatives, a total of £1,409.

Third-year Psychology student Olivia Carabine told the _Boar _that she worried about her level of debt. “I have to spend money I don’t have to meet the cost of student life, so I’m often in my overdraft.”

The report revealed that 72 percent of students have a student loan and 40 percent receive non-repayable maintenance grants. Just under a third of students work part-time jobs, for an average of 11 hours per week, with a typical weekly income of £91.53.

The report predicted that student numbers may grow at a slower rate in the future because of higher fees, and student debt is set to rise strongly as more students begin their university education paying tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year.

While 81 percent of British students agree that attending university is essential for the career they want to pursue, over a quarter of students feel a university qualification is not worth the cost of paying the new, higher tuition fees.

Head of communications, Peter Dunn, commented: “As has been said before, English student fees do not impact on student spending while at university as one does not pay anything up front and one is not obliged to pay anything back until one is in employment.”

Mr Dunn noted that there was support available for students: “The University and the SU has offered advice and signposting on this issue for many years.”

However, third-year English and Latin student Amy Collins remarked: “I am more worried about how much I am spending than I was in first year and am now making more effort to save for the inevitable time when I am working and having to pay back student debts.”

Ms Collins added: “I would consider [paying £9,000] worthwhile because I need a degree to be able to teach, but I am not sure whether I would consider it worthwhile any more if that weren’t my career choice.”

YouGovSixthSense Research Director James McCoy said: “As a result [of the rising debt], over a quarter of students say university is not worth the cost of the new, higher tuition fees. There is a very real threat that more young people will opt to skip university altogether.”

Ben Sundell, SU welfare officer commented: “We would really urge students to talk to us if they feel that they are struggling with money – it is something that can really get on top of people, and it is always better to get help.

“If anyone has any concerns about money at all, either come speak to me or someone in the Advice Centre in SUHQ.”

**Michael Allen’s take on student debt:**
I’ve always been a tad sceptical of ‘student debt’. For me, ‘debt’ is a loan shark breaking your little finger then threatening to come back next week and do the whole hand if you don’t pay up. Or I imagine the despair in the eyes of the couple with three kids living on the breadline who hear the bailiffs banging at the door.

‘Student debt’ is ‘debt-lite’ – the slimmer, healthier cousin of real debt, and the Student Loans Company is closer to a loan goldfish than a loan shark. You only have to repay once you’re earning over £15k (or £21k for the £9k-a-year cohort). If you die, no one is going to hound your poor parents for their pension; the loan will be written off.

Of course, there are other forms of debt you can incur at uni. The Yougov report says that 15 per cent of students owe money to friends and family. If you owe money to your own parents, your family must be sufficiently well-off to not be suffering too badly, and owing money to friends can only result in lost friendships. Slightly more pernicious are the interest-free overdrafts offered as part of student bank accounts. Some people don’t seem to realise that banks are going to be far less patient with your repayments than the government.

We should move our focus away from debt and onto the question of whether education is worth the money. £9000 is too much to pay for education, especially when standards certainly haven’t tripled. A student on a three-year course can now expect to have to repay up to £50,000 inclusive of the maintenance grant.

We should focus on whether the benefit a degree brings in terms of increased job prospects and earning potential still balances out the burden of the repayments to our student debt.