73% of today’s students will still be paying off their tuition fees in their 50s

Three out of four of today’s students will reach their 50s still owing debts from university of around £30,000, according to a major study published today.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies for education charity the Sutton trust, reveals that today’s students leave university with an average debt of £44,000 – almost double those of young people who left before the new fees of up to £9,000 a year came into force.

It says that nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) will fail to clear their debts, and may only have them written off 30 years after graduating, by which time they could be in their mid-50s.

By the time the debt is written off, they are likely to have had to repay £35,446 on average – at a time when they are marrying, setting up home and starting a family.

Only five per cent will repay their debts by the time they are 40, compared with around half of all graduates under the old system.

Claire Crawford, of the IFS and the University of Warwick and a co-author of the report, said: “The new HE finance system will leave graduates with much more debt than before.”

However, she added: “Graduates who do less well in the labour market will actually end up paying back less than before, while middle and high earners will pay back much more.”

Students do not have to start repaying their loans until they earn £21,000 a year, as opposed to £15,000 under the old system.

The report cites the instance of a typical teacher on the average wage for the profession and in continuous employment, who will still owe around £37,000 at the age of 40 and will be expected to repay £1,700 to £2,500 a year throughout their 40s and early fifties “at a time when their children are still at school and family and mortgage costs are at their most pressing”.

“Yet, even with this extra charge on middle earners, there is an increasing likelihood that the Government will end up failing to recoup most of its loans.”

Read the full article here.