A five year student loan repayment gender gap has emerged.

New figures reveal women graduates will face 16 years of student debt compared to men who can clear their loan within 11 years.

The Guardian reports women take longer to pay off bills because of a pay gap of up to 20 percent and due to time off caring for children.

The figures are based on government projections for students who started university last year and have prompted calls from student groups for the government to address the inequality in its review of student funding planned for 2009.

The Guardian reports the higher education minister, Bill Rammell, revealed the five-year repayment gap in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by the Conservatives.

"We estimate that a male student who entered higher education in 2006-07 will take an average of 11 years to repay their student loan. We estimate that this will be 16 years for a female," he said.

"The calculations are based on assumptions about graduate lifetime earnings, derived from the British Household Panel Survey and the Labour Force Survey. The calculations take account of earnings growth due to career progression, gender, age and periods spent unemployed for other reasons such as having children."

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