Despite the economic slowdown, elite graduates with the qualifications to secure top City jobs are still being handsomely rewarded with average starting salaries of more than ??30,000.
But at the other end of the scale, graduates from less prestigious universities with less sought-after degrees may be languishing on just ??12,000 a year, the first full league tables of the earning power of university degrees reveals.
The data shows Cambridge economics graduates were the highest paid group among 2008's university leavers. Six months after graduating they were earning more than ??38,000 on average. The next most highly paid were computer science graduates from Imperial College London.
The lowest paid include media studies graduates at Teesside University, whose average salary is ??13,067, and creative arts graduates at Newcastle on just over ??12,000.
The figures, released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, may raise questions about whether some of the less well paid graduates have added to their earning power by going to university.
