The amount students owe in loan repayments is soaring, the Department for Education and Employment says. Its statistical bulletin shows that, provisionally, the total outstanding was nearly £4.6 billion by the start of 1999-2000, up from nearly £1.2 billion at the start of 1995. Privately owned debt amounts to £2 billion, publicly owned debt to £2.6 billion. The rise reflects in part the increasing take-up of loans by students.