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£42,650 - The price of a degree

22nd November 2010 Print

As the government trebles tuition fees to an eye watering £9,000 a year, struggling students can expect to fork out a staggering £43,650 over a three year degree course – nearly twice the UK average salary (£25,543 ).

The hefty £43,650 price tag not only accounts for the massively inflated £9,000 tuition fees but also students’ average weekly spend of £185 on general living costs and course materials, which over the 30 week university period equates to £5,550. It doesn’t take a degree in maths to calculate that with all this outlay cash-strapped students are stumping up £14,550 a year for their education.

This handsome price will look less than pretty when students consider that nearly one in 11 graduates are unemployed six months after graduating – the highest proportion for 17 years, according to he Higher Education Careers Services Unit charity.

The announcement of escalated tuition fees will come as a further blow, following figures from accommodationforstudents.com (afs) - the UK’s number one student accommodation finding service – which revealed that there has been a sharp rise in student rents in 2010. The average weekly student rent now stands at £65.30, 4.3% higher than last year (£62.61), accounting for over 35% of a student’s weekly spend. The previous two years’ increases were just 1.6% and 1.7% respectively. Since 2004, when the average rent was £52.44, rents have risen 25%.

Adding insult to injury, the mean starting salary for those graduates who can secure a job is just £19,695 . Although the earning threshold for tuition fees repayment stands at £21,000 post graduates will be forced to hand over hard-earned cash to the Student Loans Company once they progress to a higher salary bracket, leaving them at square one financially.

Despite estimates from the National Union of Students (NUS) that 75% of students work either in term time or during the holidays, under graduates, on average, only put in 10 hours paid for graft a week . This earns them just £49.20 based on the National Minimum Wage (£4.92 an hour) and still leaves them with a weekly outlay of £135.80, excluding tuition fees. So even if they do drag themselves from their pits to earn a crust they are still facing an incredible £39,222 to get them through university!
Simon Thompson, founder and MD of accommodationforstudents.com comments: “For tuition fees to sky rocket from £3200 to £9000 a year is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone from any financial background. It’s frustrating to have to pay so much for an education that previously had been our birthright.

“The fact that post graduates do not need to repay these excessive fees until they earn £21,000 will come as little reassurance. After tax, living costs and now disproportionate student loans, post graduates will be left struggling. The days of Pot Noodles and scrimping and scraping will now live on well into their careers and family lives. And let’s not forget the immense difficulties first time buyers already face in getting on the property ladder – with massively inflated student loans to repay will there realistically be enough cash to buy a home? Probably not, which may lead to a knock-on effect on the housing market.

“The increase to £9000 a year will be crippling for most families and despite the Government promise of a number of ‘fair access’ criteria to ensure the poorest are not deterred from furthering their education, who, realistically, can comfortably afford such fees? It smacks of an elitist institution, widening the gap between the rich and the poor.”