The maths/England/Figures checked October 2026
University is sold as the safe choice. Here is what it costs, what it returns, and what starting a business early costs instead. Every figure is sourced at the bottom of the page.
What it costs
£9,790
Tuition fees per year, 2026/271
£10,830
Maximum maintenance loan per year, living away from home outside London1
£47,730
Average loan balance when repayment starts, 2026 leavers (provisional)2
40
Years of repayments before what is left is written off3
Repayment is 9% of everything earned above £25,000 a year, for up to 40 years, with interest linked to inflation.3 For most graduates it works like an extra tax on their working life.
The bill also includes three years in which most students earn little, at the age when others are starting to earn, save and build experience.
What it returns
£100k
Average lifetime gain for a graduate, after tax and loan repayments4
30%
Of men end up worse off than if they had not gone. For women, 20%4
30%
Lower average return than the same researchers estimated in 20204
36%
Of graduates are overqualified for the job they do6
For many people university still pays. For a large minority it does not, and the subject decides more than anything else.
Medicine and economics return over £400,000 on average. Creative arts, philosophy and languages return little or nothing.4 Among men with lower GCSE results, around 40% end up worse off.4
Graduates in England earn a median £42,000 a year, against £30,500 for non-graduates.5 That gap does not account for who goes to university in the first place, which is why the lifetime figures above are the fairer measure.
Starting early
A degree needs a loan before it teaches anything. A first business needs no loan at all.
Many first businesses, such as a service, a digital product or a small online shop, can be started with a phone, a laptop and a small budget for stock. If it fails at 15, the cost is a few pounds and some evenings. The same lesson at 25 can cost years and a loan.
What it builds that a degree does not
The honest risks
317,000
Businesses started in the UK in 20247
38.4%
Still trading five years on, for businesses started in 20197
The case for starting early rests on cost, and the odds are against any single business.
A business that fails at 15 costs little, and the skills stay. A business that fails after a loan, a lease or a year of savings costs far more. Starting young is the cheapest time to learn what sort of founder you are.
It is not either/or. A student can build a business and still go to university, with a much clearer idea of why they are going and what they want from it.
Your version
Everything above is an average. Averages don't decide whether one person should start a business at 16.
The scorecard is about one person. It asks how you work, what you enjoy and what you want, then shows a strength wheel, a blunt read on whether Built Early fits, and the tier to start at. A student heading for medicine gets a different answer from one who already sells things, and a weak fit is told so.
Built Early/Scorecard
For students, parents and schools. Results show in full with no sign-up.
Next step
Built Early is my programme for 14 to 18 year olds. Each student builds a real business alongside school, from £400.
See Built Early →Sources
General information, not financial or careers advice. Figures cover England and change most years; this page is reviewed every year. Talk to a school or college careers adviser before deciding.