The average sixth-former expects to leave university with debts of just over £6,000 - less than half the average amount graduates actually owe, research showed today. Parents were not much better at estimating the financial burden of going to university, with the average parent expecting their child to accrue debts of £7,080. Parents say that they are willing to deprive themselves of holidays in order to put their child through University
The average sixth-former expects to leave university with debts of just over £6,000 - less than half the average amount graduates actually owe, research showed today. Parents were not much better at estimating the financial burden of going to university, with the average parent expecting their child to accrue debts of £7,080. Parents say that they are willing to deprive themselves of holidays in order to put their child through University.
Reported in the Guardian the research showed that students aged between 16 and 19 expect to graduate with debts of £6,199, £1,000 less than the £7,208 people asked the same question last year expected to owe, despite tuition fees of up to £3,000 a year being introduced in September. But in reality people graduating from university this year owe an average of £13,500, according to the Association of Investment Trust Companies (AITC). Around 55% of potential students said financial concerns were their biggest worry about going to university, with 37% specifically worried about debt and 18% concerned about managing their finances generally.
45% of parents were also worried about the financial impact of their child going to university. Just over one in five sixth-formers said they expected their parents to pick up the entire bill for their time at university, something 33% of parents said they had resigned themselves to doing. However, nearly one-third of potential students expected to have to take out a loan, while 22% planned to do some part-time work to fund their studies. One-fifth of parents said they were prepared to go without a summer holiday in order to put their child through university, while 18% said they would go without a new car. But 13% of parents said they would not sacrifice anything to help their child.
Annabel Brodie-Smith, the communications director at the AITC, said: "It's alarming that so few of tomorrow's graduates or their families really comprehend the financial implications of going to university. "This year parents and future students have underestimated by a greater margin the amount of student debt they will face on graduation despite the publicity surrounding the introduction of top-up fees from September.
Though students don’t have to pay back until they are earning £15 or more, and then pay back about £50 per month. Its not a lot, but for some young people who are running up big loan bills, it will take them a long time to pay back. Its going to get worse rather than better. We could end up like the American system – an American friend of my niece had a student loan in excess of $ 250,000 when she completed her master’s degree. Start saving !
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