Tom Swarbrick Grills Minister Who Says Student Loan Is "Not Real Debt"

Universities have a large number of places available through clearing this year and Nick Gibb said that youngsters should not be put off going to university as it's a small amount of money.

He said: "We want more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to do what's right for them and not be put off by student debt, which is not real debt."

But Tom told him: "But a lot of people will be put off by the fees that are being increased and for a lot of people, this is a massive amount of money coming out of their paycheque.

"For people that just creep over that threshold, it is quite a lot of money."

Mr Gibb responded: "Say you're earning £30,000 as a starting salary - which is very unusual - it's 9% of that difference of £5,000, which is £450 a year, so these are not huge sums of money to be paying back out of the paypacket.

"We have statistics that show that over the course of their career, graduates earn £100,000 more than non-graduates, so it is financially-viable."