Last updated: 07/02/08
Women take longer to repay loan

Female graduates face 16 years of student debt while their male counterparts can expect to pay off their bill within 11 years, according to new figures.

The figures, based on Government projections for students who started university last year, suggest that the gender pay-gap is keeping a generation of women in debt for longer.

They have prompted calls from students for the Government to address this inequality in the major review of student funding planned for next year.

Women take longer to pay off bills because of the pay gap - estimated to be up to 20% - and because they are more likely to take time out to look after children.

The higher education minister, Bill Rammell, revealed the five-year repayment gap in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by the Conservatives.

“We estimate that a male student who entered higher education in 2006-07 will take an average of 11 years to repay their student loan. We estimate that this will be 16 years for a female,” he said.

Kat Stark, women’s officer at the National Union of Students, said, “Women are taking longer than men to pay off their student loans because they are paid less, not because they are taking time off to have children. Within three years of graduating, over 40% of men are earning over £25,000, compared to just over a quarter of women. The pay gap is not a new problem - the government knew when it introduced the tuition fees system that female graduates would end up saddled with debt to a worse extent than their male counterparts. In the run-up to the 2009 review of higher education funding, the government should consider whether they wish to perpetuate this injustice.”

Rammell said: “Employers appreciate the highly developed skills and talents that all graduates bring to their businesses and are willing to pay accordingly. Both male and female graduates can expect to earn considerably more over their careers than those workers without a degree.”