Students' personal loans soar

Fri, 24 Jun 2005

Personal loans taken out by students topped £13 billion between 2003 and 2004.

This personal loan amount is seven times higher than the previous nine years.

In the past decade, personal loans taken out by students have climbed from £1.89 billion according to figures released by the Student Loans Company.

The average student's personal loan is around £8,430. According to the Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2002-3, final year students’ average anticipated total debt on graduation was £8,666.

In a reply to David Howarth of the Liberal Democrats, Education Minister Bill Rammell expressed hope that new measures by the government would reduce students' need to take out personal loans.

He said: "We will be monitoring changes in borrowing patterns as the new student support arrangements come in.

"Whatever a student's circumstances, no student from 2006/2007 has to pay fees upfront and the arrangements for repayment of maintenance and fee loans are fair and equitable."

Mr Rammell further said that repayments by graduates' personal loans are at zero real interest rate, related directly to earnings and only required when earnings are greater than £15,000 per year.

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