Ref. 26181-42TOP-UP FEES FEATURE: HELEN Moscrop thinks she will be in debt to the tune of £16,000 after completing a pharmacy degree at Cardiff University.

The 19-year-old first year from Old Town said: "I wanted a degree to follow the career I chose but I never realised how much debt I was going to end up in."

She has a student loan of £3,700. Out of that she pays £2,000 for accommodation in student halls and has around £1,700 to live on.

Her parents pay her tuition fees of £1,125 and she has a £1,000 overdraft limit to draw on.

She says she is just about managing on the money she has available but next year will be more difficult.

That's because she will pay £250 a month in rent which will leave her around £1,000 to pay for food, bills, clothes, books and other living expenses that's if her parents pay her tuition fees again, otherwise she'll have nothing left from her next loan.

"How much I earn at the end of the course depends of what kind of pharmacy I do.

"There is more money in community pharmacy such as working for a company such as Boots but I am more interested in working for the NHS which won't pay a great deal.

"The new proposals are insane. I already have so much to repay at the end of my course without increased fees." Her twin sister Anna will have less to repay because the NHS gave her a bursary for her physiotherapy course.