By Vivienne Russell | 12 August 2011
Average student debt will hit almost £60,000 when the higher fee regime takes effect, an education union has warned.
A survey of 2,800 students published by the independent student guide Push predicts that British students starting higher education courses in 2012 are likely to graduate with average debts of £53,400. This compares to an average debt of £26,100 for students starting in 2011.
The University and College Union said the survey provided further proof that the government’s higher education funding plans were a ‘recipe for disaster’.
The lecturers’ union warned that any decrease in student numbers would have a knock-on effect on universities themselves as they grapple with significant central funding cuts.
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt 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.
‘Erecting punitive financial barriers is not the way to attract the best and the brightest and is bad for the health of the academic sector. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if 2% fewer people apply to university this will lead to significant funding gaps for institutions at a time when teaching budgets have been slashed by 80%.’
