Brooks Duke: "Debt has increased to �14,000"

But she could not survive without taking on debts. And when she graduated two years ago, she had four student loans and a bank overdraft.

"It is hard to start to pay debts off because you have such massive outgoings and what is left out of your income is very little," she says.

The amount of debt students are incurring is increasing, particularly since the introduction of tuition fees in England and Wales.

Once they graduate, students have to work out how they'll pay back the debt they've accumulated during their studies.

Brooks Duke from the National Union of Students explains the situation:

"Since the introduction of tuition fees and the abolition of maintenance support, graduate debt has increased from an average of �10,000 to �14,000."

In addition there are the other loans that students take out with banks and any extra overdrafts they may have.

"So we are looking at an average of �14-�16,000 for every graduate," he says.

Because students graduate with thousands of pounds of debt, it can take them years to sort their finances out.

The problem is that paying off these debts may not be priority for graduates, who could be trying to find a job or simply trying to make ends meet.

Many graduates don't realise the impact of their existing debts until they need to borrow more money, especially if they are thinking of taking on a mortgage to buy a house or a flat.

"Part of the problem is that they are in the habit of being in debt," says Tyrone Silcott of Independent Financial Advisers, Everett Macleod.

"If students want to borrow money for something more constructive, the debt that they already have is counted against them and it means that they can borrow less than they ordinarily could."

The advice is to pay off debts as soon as you can, and make sure you clear the most expensive ones first.

That means credit cards and bank loans.

But as an increasing number of students are discovering, surviving student years is not necessarily the hardest financial challenge they face - it is dealing with the debts afterwards.