Nearly 60% of students who have accumulated debts of more than £15,000 say their graduate career options will be restricted by the amount they owe, compared to well under half of students with debts of less than £15,000.
These findings form part of a study carried out by employment researchers from the University of Warwick for the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU), published this month. The study revealed both the scale of student debt and the high proportion of students who work while at university, and also showed that students, on average, have broadly realistic salary expectations.
The researchers found that 47% of finalists had done some paid work during term time, and that students were increasingly likely to say they were working to pay for essential living costs and leisure, and in order to get work experience of a particular industry or occupation.
Nearly a third of third-year finalists expected to have debts of more than £20,000 on completion of their courses, and in this group, 8% expected debts of more than £25,000. The average earnings expected by a sample of students who were about to graduate in summer 2009 was £19,665, which is almost spot on – another recent HECSU report said that the average salary for 2009 graduates in employment six months after university was £19,695.
Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 23 November 2010
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