Student loan debt in Northern Ireland nears £4.7bn

In 2022-23 alone, students in Northern Ireland took out loans worth about £340m.

The outstanding loan debt owed by students in Northern Ireland has risen to about £4.7bn.

On average each owes £24,500 when they start repaying their loans.

That is according to figures from the Student Loans Company (SLC), which administers tuition and maintenance loans in the UK.

The overall total tuition fee and maintenance loan debt owed by NI students has more than doubled in less than a decade.

In 2022-23 alone, students in Northern Ireland took out loans worth about £340m.

The SLC is the government body that pays and collects tuition fees and living-cost loans to universities and students.

It has just published data on the amount of loan debt held by NI students.

Northern Ireland students pay about £4,600 a year in tuition fees if they stay in Northern Ireland for their degree course.

But they pay £9,250 a year in fees if they go to study in the rest of the UK.

Owed £24,500 on average

The vast majority take out a loan from SLC for those fees, and another "maintenance" loan to help with their living costs.

Postgraduate students can also take out a tuition fee loan.

Students in Northern Ireland have to start repaying their loans after they have finished their course and are earning more than £22,015 a year, or £1,834 a month.

The more they earn, the more of the loan they repay - mainly through the tax system.

Those who began to repay their loan in 2023 owed an average of £24,500, according to the SLC.

The average repayment made by each Northern Ireland student was about £950 a year.

But under a quarter (22.2%) of NI students who have taken out a loan since the current loans system began in 1998/99 have fully repaid it.

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The total amount of loans Northern Ireland students owe is dwarfed by the amount owed by those in England where tuition fees are higher.

The total outstanding loan debt owed by students in England surpassed £200bn for the first time in 2022-23.

Graduates in England owe an average of £45,000 after they graduate.

The Department for the Economy (DfE) has recently modelled increasing university tuition fees in Northern Ireland to about £7,000 a year from the current £4,630 to raise money.

But significant changes to fees would require a decision by a Stormont minister and a change in legislation.