Student loan load soars

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.