Degree 'worth £15,000 a year by middle age'

Graduates earn almost £15,000 more than people without a degree by the time they reach middle age, a report revealed yesterday.

Graduates earn almost £15,000 more than people without a degree by the time they reach middle age, a report revealed yesterday.

Even before the age of 30, graduates typically earn at least £6,000 a year more than non-graduates. By the time they are 41, until they are 50, their average earnings are £34,958 compared with £20,400 for people without degrees.

Non-graduates see their earning power diminish as they get older. They report said those aged 31 to 40 were paid £20,519 on average, compared with £33,472 for their graduate peers.

Labour ministers used the graduate "premium" to justify the introduction of university tuition fees and the abolition of student grants, claiming that graduates could earn up to £400,000 more during their working lives.

The Careers Services Unit figures come just before the results next month of an investigation into Labour's student finance reforms, which began in September last year.

On Sunday, Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, made it clear that undergraduates would continue to contribute to the cost of their university education, whatever the outcome of the investigation.

The report was based on the Labour Force Survey for the year to November 2001 by the Office for National Statistics.