§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what was the average level of student debt, broken down by subject, upon graduating from a first degree in the last 12 months. [39707]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 4 March 2002]: Information on student debt is not collated by subject.
Information on student loan accounts is held by the Student Loans Company, and relates to publicly owned debt or to debts held in the private sector following the two Government debt sales.
The average debt of a borrower with a mortgage style student loan entering repayment at the start of financial year 1999–2000, the latest year for which data are available, was £3,210.
The first cohort of students on a three-year course who entered higher education under the new student support arrangements is due to enter repayment in April 2002. The average debt of a borrower with a new income contingent loan entering repayment in that year is estimated to be some £6,100.
762WStudents who started their course in 1997–98, or earlier, repay their student loan on a mortgage-style (fixed-term) basis. Students commencing their course in 1998–99, or later, will repay their loans on an income-contingent basis. Their repayments will be linked to their income after leaving higher education so that leavers only repay when their income exceeds the threshold of £10,000 per annum.
Information on students' private sector debt such as overdrafts and other commercial loans is not available centrally.