Parents need to plan a decade in advance

Over the next ten years, Skandia predicts 4.2 million graduates will have a combined debt of £71 billion as the government expects the average student to graduate owing £15,000.

“[University] should form the start of a long and fulfilling career, not a start to years of debt problems,” said Skandia spokesman Charlie Musson.

“If parents start making financial plans for their children attending university as early as possible, the financial burden on a monthly basis will be much easier to live with than having to pay in one lump sum.”

His comments are backed up by NatWest’s survey of student debt, which found that new students expect to spend £33,512 over the course of three years at university.

With so much debt and costs rising every year, parents were urged to plan well in advance for their children’s higher education.

Graeme Trinder, independent financial adviser from Robinson IFA said that parents should start thinking about university when children were in primary school.