Students struggle to pay loans

[A M]

Over 700,000 graduates are struggling to meet their minimum student loan repayments as a result of failing to earn enough cash, it has been revealed.

According to recent figures, the shortage of decent jobs as a result of the current financial climate has led to an increase of 160,000 former students in England being unable to start repyaing their student loans in just a year.

Previous research revealed that one in ten graduates are unemployed after leaving university, and many of those who do have jobs, work as bar workers, cleaners, and restaurant staff.

Yet with the Government's proposal to freeze loans and grants in 2010, along with the consultation to increase tuition fees, students could find themselves leaving university in more debt than ever.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students said: "Those vice-chancellors who are arguing for the cap on fees to be lifted in the coming year must think again, unless they want to plunge a generation of students and graduates into even worse debt during a time of economic crisis."