Commenting on the introduction of post-graduate student loans announced today, Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of The Sutton Trust, said;

“We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that he will extend income contingent loans for postgraduates. As the Autumn Statement report highlights, Sutton Trust research shows 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.

“The extra loans and bursaries should make it easier for low and middle income students to take up postgraduate opportunities, which have become increasingly the preserve of well off students from the UK and overseas. It will be important to keep the level of the support under review to ensure that it is genuinely giving the opportunity of a post-graduate education to 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 140 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. The Autumn Statement (page 44) refers 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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