Unsettling news for penniless students: parents are becoming more inclined to ask for their money back, according to a recent YouGov survey.
The number of graduates receiving parental gifts of money has dropped significantly in the last ten years. However, during the same period the number of loans given by parents has almost doubled.
The average parental loan is now £12,188, with a staggering £2 billion having been lent by UK parents over the last ten years.
The amounts needed by students and graduates are becoming so large that parents simply can't afford not to ask for them back.
Rachel Russell, lecturer on young people and consumer culture at Glasgow Caledonian University, said in the Scotsman: "I don't think that parent's attitudes are hardening about giving their children money, it's more a case that they are having to find large amounts of money to help their children".
Huge increases in house prices are partly to blame for the increased reliance on parental loans. The large amounts needed for house deposits are often impossible for graduates to get together, especially as many are already shouldering large university debts.
Richard Clark, Scottish Widows spokesman said: "Even graduates who have been working for several years are forced to borrow money.... some of these loans are leaving the bank of mum and dad empty".
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