If you were panicking you’d spend your life repaying your student loan, it might be less of a problem for you than you thought. New research by The Times has revealed exactly how much of their student loans grads from all the UK unis actually end up paying back. It turns out that at Hartpury University, University of Wales Trinity St David and the University of the West of Scotland, only one per cent of grads have actually paid off all their student loans. Yikes. Even at fancy Russell Group unis – where you’re supposed to get better grad jobs and better bragging rights – most people don’t actually repay all their student loans. At a majority of Russell Group unis, grads have on average only paid back less than a quarter of their student loans.
The Russell Group unis where students are best at paying back their student loans are Imperial College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Grads from these unis have really good job prospects and often get onto high-paying soul-sucking corporate grad schemes. So it makes sense they’d be paying off a bigger amount of their student loans from a younger age.
Grads from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Glasgow pay back quite a high proportion of their student loans. This is because tuition fees are way, way lower for Northern Ireland and Scottish students who study in their own countries. So they don’t need to borrow as much money in the first place. Grads from the University of Edinburgh repay a much lower 25 per cent – presumably this is because most Edinburgh students aren’t actually Scottish and picked the uni because they want to pretend they’re at Hogwarts.
So, here are all the Russell Group unis ranked by how little of their student loans the grads pay back. I’ve also included the average debt students end up with at each Russell Group uni, and the the average amount grads pay back.
24. Imperial College London – 37 per cent
The average debt is £37,570, and grads pay off an average of £13,826.
23. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 34 per cent
The LSE campus is so underrated
(Credit: Umezo KAMATA via Creative Commons)
The average debt is £35,322, and grads pay off an average of £12,165.
22. Queen’s University Belfast – 33 per cent
The average debt is £18,524, and grads pay off an average of £6,095.
21. University of Cambridge – 31 per cent
The average debt is £33,705, and grads pay off an average of £10,530.
20. University of Oxford – 30 per cent
The average debt is £36,476, and grads pay off an average of £10,927.
19. University of Glasgow – 27 per cent
The average debt is £17,611, and grads pay off an average of £4,722.
18. University College London (UCL) – 27 per cent
The average debt is £33,626, and grads pay off an average of £9,055.
17. Durham University – 26 per cent
The average debt is £34,447, and grads pay off an average of £8,921.
16. University of Edinburgh – 25 per cent
I swear every Edinburgh Uni building looks like a vampire lives there
(Credit: Stinglehammer via Creative Commons)
The average debt is £24,858, and grads pay off an average of £6,278.
15. University of Warwick – 24 per cent
The average debt is £34,982, and grads pay off an average of £8,568.
14. King’s College London – 24 per cent
The average debt is £34,553, and grads pay off an average of £8,280.
13. University of Bristol – 23 per cent
The average debt is £37,683, and grads pay off an average of £8,748.
12. University of Manchester – 23 per cent
The average debt is £33,155, and grads pay off an average of £7,635.
11. Cardiff University – 23 per cent
The average debt is £31,165, and grads pay off an average of £7,131.
10. University of Southampton – 22 per cent
The average debt is £34,368, and grads pay off an average of £7,492.
9. University of Leeds – 22 per cent
The average debt is £34,004, and grads pay off an average of £7,400.
8. University of Birmingham – 22 per cent
Brum students clearly spend all their maintenance loans on VKs at Rosie’s
The average debt is £34,551, and grads pay off an average of £7,533.
7. University of Sheffield – 22 per cent
The average debt is £35,971, and grads pay off an average of £7,852.
6. University of Nottingham – 21 per cent
The average debt is £37,591, and grads pay off an average of £7,866.
5. University of Exeter – 21 per cent
The average debt is £35,070, and grads pay off an average of £7,222.
4. Newcastle University – 20 per cent
The average debt is £36,635, and grads pay off an average of £7,373.
3. Queen Mary University of London – 20 per cent
The average debt is £36,696, and grads pay off an average of £7,213.
2. University of Liverpool – 19 per cent
The average debt is £36,147, and grads pay off an average of £6,725.
1. University of York – 18 per cent
The average debt is £36,907, and grads pay off an average of £6,674.
For more news about UK universities, like The Tab on Facebook.
