With the rise in student fees before Christmas, it has raised awareness of the debts that current student already have. A freedom of information request has revealed that the largest debt owed to the government by one student is £66,150 and the combined 20 largest student debts amount to more than £1 million. In these statistics it showed that only one of these students lived in London, where funding is higher due to the price of living costs.
The question is how did the rest of these students compile such huge debts? Longer courses mean more loans and this means more debts. However, a notable point is that these debts are created by students studying to be doctors and lawyers, professions that should result in a high income. This means paying back loans shouldn’t hurt their bank balances as much.
But what about the rest of us? At the moment the maximum tuition fees for students are set at £3,290 and they can also receive a maintenance loan of up to £5000 (£7,000 for those living in London). This yearly debt that could reach up to £10,00, means a student doing a three year BA course is most likely to leave university with debt anywhere between £15,000 to £30,000.
Canterbury Tales spoke to the students at Cantebrury Christ Church University to see how they felt about the debt they were accumulating.
Jessica McMenemy, a student studying business, said: “I probably should be worried about my loans but the fact you don’t have to pay it back until after university makes me feel better about the situation.”
Sam Hared also had a nonchalant approach to the debts facing him and said: “It doesn’t bother me because I don’t think about it. I’m glad we can pay it back gradually.”
But a student in her third year, Tatiana Elaguila, said: “It has started to dawn on me that I am going to have large sums of debt after university, its even more difficult because I know how hard it will be to get a job afterwards. But I am a little comforted knowing it doesn’t have to be paid back till we’re earning £21,000.”
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