The total debt owed by students at Northern Ireland’s universities is now £2.42bn, a rise of 12% since last year.
Figures released by the Student Loans Company show that students studying here borrowed £298m to pay their way through university in 2014-2015. This is the highest yearly figure since the current loans system began in 1998 and is a rise of 9% on 2013-2014.
Students who are due to start repaying their loans this year owe an average of £18,160, which is double the amount owed by those who began their loan repayments in 2008.
Chancellor George Osborne has said that maintenance grants will be scrapped in England from 2016/17. As grants are a devolved matter Stephen Farry, the minister for Employment and Learning, must now decide what will happen to these grants in Northern Ireland.
In 2015/2016 the cost of yearly tuition fees at Northern Ireland universities is set at £3,805. Students can also take out a maintenance loan to cover living costs, which is capped at £4,840 if they live away from home or £3,750 if they live with their parents.
Representatives from both Queen’s University and Ulster University have said that both universities receive less funding than their counterparts in the rest of the UK, which may have an impact on fees in the future.
According to figures from the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), universities in England and Scotland receive £1,000 to £2,500 more in funding per student place than universities in Northern Ireland.
Professor Tony Gallagher, Vice Chancellor at Queen’s University, said that in order for universities to break even, fees may have to rise dramatically.
"If you had to look at the break even figure in terms of the funding cuts we've been suffering, then you'd be looking at £6,500 to £7,000 a year probably," he said.
"But that still doesn't provide much scope for investment in higher education."
