UK University students graduate with higher debts than their counterparts in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the US, according to a new report from the Sutton Trust.

The report, entitled ‘Degrees of Debt’, cites 2014 research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which says that UK students will graduate with an average of £44,500 worth of debt.

Comparatively, average debts in other English-speaking countries were much lower, ranging between approximately £15,000 and $29,000.

In Canada, for example, students leaving university were on average £15,000 (GBP)  in debt.

Graduates from English universities will also earn less for their starting salaries in ratio to their accumulated debt.

However, it is noted in the report that the “centralised, state-run repayment system in England and other UK countries is relatively advantageous to the borrower” compared with the private system used in countries like the US.

But while the government has said that the funding system in England is “fair and sustainable”, the report claimed that its findings should be cause for concern, “not least because the number of part-time and mature students enrolling at UK institutions across recent years has dropped precipitously”.

The report recommended rationalisation of student funding policy across the UK, an investigation by the Office for Budget Responsibility into the impact of the latest changes to grants and loans, and a stronger evaluation of university spending on outreach and access programmes.

The report said that the government needed to “investigate whether the current student loans system offers value for money to both the student and taxpayer, especially given recent reforms”.

Student debts in the UK will likely increase again in the near future, following the scrapping of maintenance grants for lower income students in England and Wales by Chancellor George Osborne last July.

At Cambridge, some colleges have reacted with new schemes and bursaries. St. John’s College recently made headlines, promising students with annual household incomes of less than £25,000 will receive a grant of up to £9,570 per year to help cover the cost of living.