New undergraduates will spend £33,500 to get their degrees

The cost of studying for a degree could top £33,500, according to research.

Sixth-formers starting university in September will spend an estimated £33,512 after the government introduces top up charges on tuition fees from this autumn, a study by NatWest bank estimated.

The Money Matters survey found that graduates leaving university this year had average debts of £13,252, a 5% increase on the previous year.

Graduate starting salaries have also dropped from £14,090 to £13,860, according to the bank.

But Mark Worthington, head of student and graduate banking for NatWest, said: “New students are clearly much more clued up about the financial realities of university than in previous years.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Email

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Tuition fees for British universities have increased from £1,175 to £3,000 a year.

The research  was based on survey of 1,003 graduates, 1,071 students and 1,059 sixth formers.