Student Debt Reaches A Record £18 Billion

1.11.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 13th Jun 2007

West Worcestershire Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt, has today highlighted new official figures showing that the total student debt in the UK is now £18 billion.

This is more than the Gross Domestic Product of Slovenia or if the debt was in pound coins placed on top of each other, the pile would reach around the moon and half way back.

Richard Burt commented: "Graduates from across Worcestershire are burdened by a staggering amount of debt as they start out in life.

"Huge debts seriously worry local students, affect their choice of careers, home and when to start a family. It also acts as a deterrent to many from applying to our best universities.

"Ten years of Labour have created a shameful situation where the ability to pay, not the ability to learn determines access to higher education.

"These are ministers who all benefited from free university education but are happy to pull up the ladder of opportunity behind them. It's yet another way in which Blair's Britain hinders social mobility rather than helps it."