Faced with an onslaught of mock examinations and coursework deadlines, schools appear to have allowed personal / social / health education lessons to ditch their reputation for tackling some of the more controversial teenage subjects in favour of confronting sixth-formers with the infamous brutalities of student debt.

Fear of debt is widely reputed to be the major factor in students dropping out of university and one that prevents many from applying in the first place - unsurprising given the daunting statistics published annually.

A survey by Push.co.uk predicts that 2008's freshers may well owe up to £21,500 by the time they graduate whilst a poll of university managers by The Guardian revealed growing unease in the current funding system and even suggested that the fees for certain science courses could rocket to £10,000.

For many whose previous financial experience has been limited to negotiating pocket money or feelings of guilt for blowing a month's wages on unnecessary luxuries, the harsh realities of student finances may come as the shortest and sharpest of shocks - at a time of growing apprehension about the future!

A survey by NatWest, however, attests that 73 per cent of sixth-form students still consider university worthwhile though the fact 72 per cent were already anxious about future debts underpins the complaints concerning the government's approach to university fees.

However, hopes that a political party will revolutionise the current system to help struggling students offers little consolation to this year's flock of freshers who can instead strive to cement fledgling friendships by bemoaning mutual impoverishment!