Average student loan 'up 22 per cent in five years'

The average student loan has increased 22 per cent since 1999, according to figures released today.

Information obtained through written parliamentary questions showed the average debt was $11,855 in December 1999 and in November 2004 stood at $14,547.

Act MP Deborah Coddington, who received the information, said some graduates were going to find it difficult to pay off their loans and many would leave the country to escape their debt.

Ms Coddington also has figures that show the number of people aged 60 and over who have student loans increased from 2413 in June 2002 to 4713 in September last year.

Many of them would die before their debt was repaid, she said, and older people who wanted to educate themselves should carry more of the cost.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard was quoted in the Dominion Post today as saying the number of elderly people who would not repay their debt was "a drop in the bucket" and there were no plans to stop them obtaining loans.

Preventing elderly people obtaining student loans would breach the Bill of Rights Act, he said.

- NZPA