Students expect to graduate with more than £15,000 of debt

By Matthew Plant – Financial specialist

According to the latest Sodexo University Lifestyle Survey, half of all university students in the UK expect to graduate with debts in excess of £15,000, the Guardian reports.

The research showed that while 50% of the UK`s full-time undergraduates believe they will graduate with such large debts, more than a quarter (28%) think they`ll leave with debts totalling more than £20,000.

The findings also suggest that students are `adjusting to the scale of their debts`, with the proportion of students saying they were concerned about their level of debt dropping from 42% in 2008 - when the research was last conducted - to 37% this year.

Out of the 1,994 students questioned, 30% had considered leaving university at some point. 46% of those students doubted they would be able to continue with their degrees due to financial difficulties.

President of the NUS (National Union of Students), Wes Streeting, said that "students were leaving university with record levels of debt at a time when graduate job prospects were at an all-time low."

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