Many students are avoiding taking out onerous loans and instead relying on their parents to fund their university years, according to new research from Halifax.

It found that four in every ten parents have children attending university who are not taking out student loans.

Some 33 per cent of parents said they would dip into their retirement funds to pay for their children's tuition fees and other costs if it meant sidestepping student loans.

Working extra hours was seen as a more popular choice than taking out student loans among 31 per cent of parents, and 22 per cent said they would consider getting a second job.

Another ten per cent said they would prefer to take out a personal loan themselves as opposed to their child taking out a student loan, and two thirds said they would do without holidays abroad or other luxuries.

Ian Larkin, head of Halifax Unsecured Personal Loans, said: "Our research shows that many parents would prefer to take on the financial responsibilities of funding their children through university rather than them take on a student loan."

But Halifax point out that parents can lessen the financial burden of putting their child though university by setting up a special savings account when the child is young.