Equal opportunities

The aim of the system, says the DfES, is to encourage people from poorer backgrounds to study, and make sure each student has a similar amount of money made up of different degrees of grant and debt.

After that there are bursaries, which are distributed by individual colleges or universities. Typically they do not amount to much - if you qualify for the full maintenance grant and your fees are around £3,000 you'll get £300. However, the DfES says that the average bursary is around £1,000.

Unsurprisingly, the cost of studying is having a big impact on where people study. A NatWest survey last year, for example, revealed 22% of students now live with their parents, a jump of 16% from 2005.

Most students work as well. The DfES says 56% of students have a job and work an average 13.5 hours a week earning £6.10 an hour - about £4,200 a year.

Jim didn't work during term time. "I was quite lucky," he says, "but I worked full time during the holidays." As a tour guide and shop assistant at Eton College in Windsor he earned £6,000 a year, enough to pay for his flat in London.

As well as working, students will have access to an overdraft facility (£1,500 interest-free is fairly standard with student accounts), and as a last resort, credit cards. Some students - those who are disabled for example - may also qualify for certain benefits.

Despite the high cost, however, both the DfES and NUS agree it is still worth paying to go to university - over a lifetime a graduate will earn on average £100,000 more than a school leaver with two A-levels.

And Jim says he would also do it again, despite the high cost of London living. While admitting his parents are "quite shocked" at his debts, he is fairly relaxed about them. "I got quite worried when I applied and did some spreadsheets. But when I got here I spent it, and I didn't really look back."

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