56% of all graduates, according to a report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, will take so long to repay their loans that they'll be paying, effectively, an extra tax deducted from their payslips for up to thirty years.
At which point they’ll have reached the age of 52, and any outstanding amounts to be repaid will be written off at the end of that thirty-year period.
An analysis of the study's fee charges of 90 universities reveals students can expect to be charged an average of £8,660 each year, while 64% would be charged the full annual fee of £9,000.
The average debt will be rising from £22,127 to £37,658,meaning that 70% of students are going to be worse off over their lifetime under the new repayment system, while universities themselves will be better off - despite cuts to public funding - and the taxpayer will save an estimates £3,000 per university student.
Worst hit will be students from middle-class families, no longer qualifying for student grants which would have lowered the amount of their student loan. They'll have to take out the maximum possible loan to cover their living costs.
Better off - at least in the long run - would be those from the poorest families: they'd be least likely to go to universities charging the highest tuition fees, says the report, but they'll still face an average debt of £34,848, as opposed to those students from the richest families who won't need to take out a full loan to pay for their education, and who’ll be looking at £37,433 on average.
Thanks to what the study refers to as the "increased generosity of student support", students would be "significantly better off while they study". After graduation, though, they'll be paying back much bigger loans for much longer.
Universities Minister David Willetts says the study vindicated the government's reforms, and that "students still at university, institutions, taxpayers and poorer graduates will be better off under the new system.
"The poorest 30 per cent of graduates pay back less, public expenditure is saved, and universities gain more funds."
But why, some people are asking, should students chase Mickey Mouse degrees like, say, childminding or football studies - even though the number of those has dropped significantly over the years - only to come out, in the main, with a scrap of parchment that's taken years to earn and will be taking many more years to pay for.while childminding and football apprenticeships offering work experience, skills training and a salary are freely available right now?
