A degree will cost you the following:

• The debt you end up with when you graduate – currently running at around £24,000, but let’s say £27,000 by the time you get through the system (based on having to pay back three years’ worth of tuition fees and taking out the maximum non-London student loan each year).
• The money you could have earned during your years as a student minus any money you do earn as a student. For the average 18, 19 or 20-year-old in full-time employment, that averages around £13,000 a year. Take off the money students earn on average – this can vary a lot depending on whether they work in term-time, holidays or both, but let’s stay on the very safe side and say a couple of grand – and that’s about £37,000.

Therefore, the total cost – using the harshest measure – is £59,000 (although it’s not as if you actually have to pay that money or would have had it if you hadn’t gone to university).

Nevertheless, financially, what do you get for your investment?

• You will have greater earning power. A few years after graduation, most degree-holders are earning more than people of the same age without a degree.
• Four out of five students – that’s the people who are scrimping by and running up debts – say that going to university is worth it and that they’ll earn more as a result.
• Ten years after graduating, men earn 30% more and women 46% more on average than non-graduates.
• Your income will rise more rapidly and steeply. Most graduates start off earning at least £15,000 and the average for a graduate scheme in a big company is more like £22,000. Promotional prospects are far greater.
• One in five big graduate employers offer starting salaries of more than £25,000.
• Your chances of ever being unemployed will be cut in half.
• You’ll have a wider range of career options open to you, whatever your subject.
• A graduate is expected to pull in £150,000 more over their working life than someone who went out to work with two A levels. In fact, according to the Government, a graduate will earn an average of £400,000 more over their working life than someone who didn’t go to university.

In other words, apart from a 250% index-linked return on your investment, you have added security.

Financial case closed, Push thinks.

Please note: All our figures were correct at the time of writing, but they all change almost every year and some more often than that.

• Alright, how do I apply then?
• A quick guide to student funding

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