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The Cost of Higher Education - the Facts

• As state support is squeezed, parents are paying more than £400 million a year to help their children - on top of means-tested contributions to maintenance grants.

• The Barclays Bank's annual survey of student finances showed on average parental contribution was £631 a year for three quarters of students.

• In 1993, 26% of students regarded their parents as their main source of income. By this year, that had grown to 37%.

• At the same time, the proportion of students saying they owed money to their parents halved, from 34% to 17% - suggesting, Barclays said, that more parents were not expecting their children to repay them.

• Parents are not just helping their children with money. More than three quarters lived at home free during vacations; more than a third were given food and a further third received help with travelling, or the use of a car.

• Students whose parents have a "residual income" below £16,450 get maximum grant from local education authorities towards their living costs.

• The grant is means tested. Above an income of around £35,000, parents get no help from the LEA.

• In London, the maximum grant in the current academic year is £2,105. Elsewhere it is £1,755. Students living at home get less.

• But grants have been reducing since 1990 - when the maximum stood at £2,650 - as loans have been phased in.

• Maximum loans now available are £2,035 in London; £1,685 elsewhere.

• So total income for a student living in London is £4,140; outside London, £3,440.

• But the survey showed only 29% of students said their main source of income was their local education authority maintenance grant, compared to 43% last year.

• Students now have an average overall debt of £2,475, up 25% on last year's average of £1,982.

• The number of students who thought they would be in debt at the end of their course increased to 86% from 80% last year.

• Despite increasing debt levels, there was a decrease in the students working during their summer holidays, down to 81% from last year's 84%.

• But 30% of students worked during term-time, compared with 32% last year.

• Barclays Bank also calculated average living costs for a 36-week term, from information given by students in London and Manchester.

• After combined maximum grant and loan, the shortfalls for students in London ranged between £1,522 for a first-year living in a hall of residence to £2,878 for a third-year renting a house with three others.

• In Manchester, the shortfall for a first-year student in similar circumstances was £1,755, and £3,605 for a third-year.