Debt divides 'prince from pauper'

Thousands of students have marched against university fees

Student debt has always been a contentious issue with wrangles over grants, tuition fees and top-up fees.

But a survey has shown that average student debt has grown to £13,501.

Two final-year students from the opposite ends of the debt scale tell how they have coped or struggled to make ends meet.

Gemma Tumelty, 24

Gemma Tumelty expects to leave university owing £18,000

Debt is a worry for Gemma Tumelty as she approaches the end of four years at Liverpool University.

She expects to leave owing £18,000 and admits she does not know how she will pay it off.

Student loans make up most of her debt, borrowing £3,000 in her first year and £4,000 each year since.

But she also owes about £900 on her credit card and last summer had a £1,000 overdraft, which she has since paid off.

Her financial situation was not helped by deciding to change courses from sociology to psychology after her first year.

She has had some financial help from her parents, but Gemma, from Aston Clinton, Hertfordshire, says her debt has grown so high because her £4,000 annual student loan has not been enough to cover her £1,100 tuition fees, rent and living expenses.

Even working part-time as a waitress, for the university and, more recently, the National Union of Students (NUS), has not made a large impact.

"It does scare me about how I'm going to pay off the money," says Gemma, who will earn about £17,000 when she goes to work full-time for the NUS in the summer.

"I'm 24 and I can't see me getting a pension or being able to afford a house," she adds.

Gemma says she will try to clear her credit card with the money from her last student loan, but admits she does not know how much interest the card charges.

"It's been really hard to manage at university, to be honest," she says.

Anjool Malde, 20

Anjool Malde says almost anyone can leave university without an overdraft

Anjool Malde is one of the few students in the UK who says he will leave university in profit - despite having no financial help from his parents.

Approaching the end of a geography degree at Oxford University's St Peter's College, he has paid off his student loans by working in his holidays.

In the summer after his first year, he earned £6 an hour in a call centre in Oxford, but last summer secured an internship at a London bank which paid £500 a week.

He admits not everyone is lucky enough to get such work, which has also helped him get a job as an analyst at Deutsche Bank in London.

But he says being careful with his money has not meant that he has been unable to enjoy his student life, joining the university's student newspaper and union committee.

He also has little sympathy for students who build up large overdrafts, saying they are often the same people who boast about spending £50 on a night out.

Anjool, from Yarm-on-Tees, near Middlesbrough, is proud that he has been independent from his mother, an arts teacher, and his father, a psychologist.

"I wanted to be independent and not be reliant on my parents," he says.

"If I can survive without a penny from my parents, instead of taking out a student loan and doing vacation work, others should at least be able to leave without an overdraft."