Graduates leave university with more than £30,000 in debt - but are confident they'll get high salaries

Despite being in debt and 'skint', other findings show students to be the biggest wasters of energy in the whole of the UK

(Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Graduates leaving university this summer will be taking more than £30,000 in debt with them – but will be receiving higher salaries in their first jobs, a major survey has found.

Based on interviews with 18,412 students, the UK Graduate Careers Survey 2015 found that these students – who will be the first to graduate since the introduction of the £9,000-a-year tuition fees four years ago – told of the sharp hike in how much they owe – which is up from just £10,400 a decade ago.

But, the new graduates say they are confident they’ll see wages rise and one in six say they’re certain they will be earning more than £100,000-a-year by the time they turn 30.

London’s students had the highest levels of debt, with students at the city’s Imperial College expected to leave with an average debt amount of £39,300.

Debt levels were found to be the lowest in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which both have different tuition fee rules.

The managing director of High Fliers Research which carried out the survey, Martin Birchall, said the survey found that the class of 2015 is the most career-focused and ambitious of their generation.

He also added: “Although the class of 2015 face the highest-ever graduation debts, an unprecedented number have already secured a graduate job offer before leaving university and the proportion who are uncertain about their future is at its lowest level for seventeen years.”

Despite already being in the five-figured sum of debt, other findings by Safestyle UK have found students to be the biggest wasters of energy in the UK.

Compared with age groups of up to 65+, those in the 18-24 age bracket were found to be the worst offenders when it comes to turning off the lights and heating before leaving home.

With landlords and letting agents offering all-inclusive contracts to tenants, it is though that the landlords are being left to pick up the extraordinarily high bills.

London is the second-biggest energy waster in the UK behind Birmingham – which is the worst – putting Liverpool at the top as being the nation’s biggest energy saver.