Commenting on the Chancellor’s announcement in today’s Budget that he plans to extend post-graduate student loans from £10,000 to £25,000, Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of The Sutton Trust, said:

“We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that he will increase income contingent loans for postgraduates. The plans should improve the chances of low and middle income graduates taking on research Master’s and Doctoral courses which have become the preserve of better off students from the UK and abroad.

“The Chancellor has acknowledged the importance of Sutton Trust research showing that 11% of working adults now have a postgraduate degree compared to 4% in 1996, with a postgraduate wage premium worth £200,000 in lifetime earnings.

“It will be important that the impact of the loans is fully monitored – particularly the effect of cumulative undergraduate and postgraduate debt – to ensure that these loans are being taken up by those who would otherwise lose out.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 150 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to access to the professions.
  2. December’s Autumn Statement (page 44) referred to the Sutton Trust’s research paper Postgraduate Premium by Joanne Lindley and Stephen Machin which examines the relationship between postgraduate qualifications and levels of social mobility in the UK and USA compared to other countries.

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