A UNIVERSITY student has staked a £100 bet on him and his girlfriend still being together when they graduate.

Christopher Brooker and fellow philosophy student Hannah Grayson were discussing the difficulties of students committing themselves to each other when he decided on impulse to show how serious he was.

Mr Brooker, 22, staked £100 at odds of 6/1 with William Hill that he will still be with Hannah come graduation day in June 2012 – standing to make £600.

The couple met during the first year of their course at Durham University.

Mr Brooker, originally from Dudley, in the West Midlands, said: “Hannah lived in the flat above me and we were on the same course. That is how we became friends – and then romance blossomed.

“We were sitting on the sofa one afternoon talking about how it was especially difficult for students to make commitments with time spent studying and with extra-curricular activities.

“I decided there and then to make a gesture of commitment and went to the bookies.

“I never told Hannah about it at first and got in touch with special bets expert Joe Crilly to finalise the details with him.

“I then told Hannah, because I would not have been able to do it without her.”

Hannah, 19, of Harrogate, said: “I thought it was a really lovely gesture.

“It was touching of him to say that he wanted to still be with me at graduation. I think we are doing quite well at the moment.”

Mr Brooker said that while he was confident they would see out the end of the course together – and beyond – he was not in it for profit. He said: “She means more to me than all the money in the world.”

Mr Crilly said: “Being a student, Mr Brooker has had very little time to juggle studying, playing tennis, sleeping and having a girlfriend – and so his commitments were stretched.

“Christopher has taken the ultimate student sacrifice – spending the equivalent of seven cases of beer on a long-term commitment to his girlfriend.”