Dread at weight of loan repayments

By STUART DYE

Megan Hall thought that by the time she had reached her late 20s she would be financially comfortable and have begun buying a home.

Instead, the 27-year-old business analyst lives from pay-cheque to pay-cheque and finds she has to deprive herself of luxuries as she battles to settle her debt.

After five years of study, Ms Hall left the University of Auckland with a BA (Hons) and bachelor of commerce degrees - and a $55,000 student loan debt. Another five years later and she still owes $55,000.

"I've been paying it off since I graduated because I started work straight away - but I can only manage to pay the interest," she said.

Ms Hall's partner has an even bigger debt from studying. It leaves the couple struggling, denying themselves holidays and unable to buy a house or plan for the future.

"I was always confident I would pay it off," Ms Hall said. "Now it's just so big that it almost does not bear thinking about."

As well as the practical battle to repay the loan, Ms Hall resents the system that forced her to plunge into so much debt.

She is one of thousands of bright young graduates around the country who feel they are left with little choice once armed with their qualifications.

"We've started to think about heading overseas to try and get the money together to pay off the debt. It means putting everything in life on hold, but there's just no way it will get paid back while working here."