'It's great - I can take care of my debts'

Anthony Potter, 21, learnt yesterday that his new job as a trainee management consultant with Andersen Consulting will mean a £10,000 lump sum he wasn't expecting.

Anthony Potter, 21, learnt yesterday that his new job as a trainee management consultant with Andersen Consulting will mean a £10,000 lump sum he wasn't expecting.

"It will make a big difference to me and I'm over the moon about it," he said. The payment will come in two tranches, £6,000 when he starts work in September and another £4,000 next year, on top of a starting salary of £28,000.

Mr Potter said: "If someone is offered a couple of jobs, as much as we would like to think that they're going to go for the nicest job, I still think [a lump sum] makes a big difference... I've run up over £15,000 in debts while I have been at university, so to know a chunk of that is going to be taken care of is an absolute boon."

Mr Potter graduated from Cambridge with a 2:1 in Classics. He was sponsored through university by the Army and spent a lot of time with the Officer Training Corps while he was there. Not joining the Army means he will have to repay the £3,000 loaned to him.

Mr Potter first contacted Andersen Consulting in his university holidays, when the company gave him a week's training and seven weeks' work at £280 a week plus expenses.