A PricewaterhouseCoopers report at the end of March showed that almost half – 46 per cent – of the 9 per cent increase in household debt in 2014 in Britain was accounted for by young people trying to fund their way through university.
The report estimates that graduates who started courses after 2012 will owe an average of £40, 000 to £50,000 but because many university leavers will never earn graduate salaries, up to 40 per cent of this debt will never be fully paid off.
And the debt is piling up further. A 2014 analysis by the Citizens Advice Bureau showed more young people use pay day lenders to finance their day-to-day expenditure – accounting for 62 per cent of the “high-interest” credit used by under 25s, with 10 per cent of all those with serious debt problems in the 17-24 age group. Yet one in three of young people with “serious financial problems” is in work.