UNIVERSITIES are concerned that students' financial problems could affect academic performance.

Undergraduates are to be quizzed about their attitudes to debt after a government survey showed students were three times as much in the red, and borrowing twice as much, as their counterparts from the mid-1990s.

Diana Warwick, chief executive of the umbrella body Universities UK, said they would be concerned if there was any evidence that debt was affecting academic performance or causing hardship.

''They also want to reach out to new students, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, who are not taking up higher education in sufficient numbers.

''If fear of debt is one of the factors deterring such applications, we will address this issue urgently.''

A recent Department for Education and Employment poll was said by Higher Education Minister Baroness Blackstone to show that most students are adequately supported by loans, jobs and parental contributions.