By Iona Bain

Wonga has been slammed for advertising payday loans as "an alternative" to student finance if school leavers struggle to pay their way through higher education.

Today, it created a new page on its website outlining the advantages of payday loans for students, provoking widespread outrage on Twitter. The word "Wonga" briefly became one of the social networking site's top trends, with consumer campaigners branding the website's targeting of students as morally irresponsible.

On the page titled "Student Loan: Alternative to Education Loan", Wonga admits that interest rates for its payday loans are "much higher" but that students only borrow them for a month and "pay back the interest on a date that suits".

"Wonga admits that interest rates for its payday loans are much higher"

However, some commentators have taken issue with Wonga's later suggestion that students could use a payday loan if "your mates tell you about finding a deal on plane tickets to the Canary Island".

Payday loans can be an effective way to access cash for a short period of time, but students must not be tempted to use them regularly, nor are they recommended for paying rent or other regular outgoings.

As our deputy editor Rachel Wait recently pointed out, payday loans often come with high interest rates - Wonga has an APR of 4,214%. This means if you borrowed the maximum of £400 over the maximum 33 day period, you'd have to pay back a total of £137.48 in interest and fees.

Students must be confident they can repay the entire debt - in this instance, £537.48 – within the month without any trouble, otherwise the temptation is to roll over the debt into the next month, resulting in higher interest charges. As a general rule of thumb, if you take out a payday loan more than three times in a year, it suggests you're not coping financially.

If you're concerned about your levels of student debt, you can ring the Consumer Credit Counselling Service for free on 0800 138 1111.