Graduates [Image: Chris Radburn/PA].

Graduates who know they will have to start paying back their student loans once their earnings hit a certain level are finding themselves forced to take lower-earning jobs.

Many will be able to find jobs that mean cover the cost of repayments and still deliver a decent standard of living.

But with loan repayments kicking in once a graduate starts earning £21,000 per year, it’s no surprise that many are stuck in jobs that pay less.

What a handy way for a government of the privileged rich to keep the talented poor from encroaching on their positions, wealth and status!

One in four graduates in work a decade after leaving university in 2004 is earning only around £20,000 a year, according to a new study.

The Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset is the first of its kind to track higher education leavers as they move from university into the workplace. Its findings are likely to be scrutinised closely by students considering whether to accept a university place when they receive their A-level results.

The LEO survey, which is not adjusted for inflation, reveals that the median earnings for a graduate were £16,500 one year on from when they left university in 2004, increasing to £22,000 after three years and rising to £31,000 in 2014. The lowest quartile of graduate earners fared significantly worse. A year after they graduated in 2004 their median earnings were just £11,500, rising to £16,500 after three years and £20,000 after 10. The average wage in Britain is currently £26,500.

Fears of a huge debt burden upon graduation have already led some potential university recruits to seek alternative career paths.

Source: Quarter of UK graduates are low earners 10 years after university | Education | The Guardian

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