Arabic version: 22,000 طالب يواجهون مطالب سداد لقروض غير مؤهلة
According to BBC News,
More than 20,000 students have been told they were given maintenance loans and grants in error and now face demands to immediately pay the money back. The students, who are all studying weekend courses, received letters from the Student Loans Company (SLC) or their university saying their courses had never been eligible for maintenance loans or childcare grants. One letter, from the SLC and seen by the BBC, says the university provided incorrect information and “unfortunately, they didn’t tell us you only attended on the weekend”. It states that any “over-payment” will have to be repaid.
The BBC understands courses at 15 universities and colleges including London Metropolitan University, Bath Spa, Leeds Trinity, Southampton Solent and Oxford Brookes are affected. The courses each had in-person teaching at weekends, and some also had online learning during the week. Students had signed up for these courses and taken out loans for maintenance and, in some cases, grants for childcare. In a joint statement issued via Universities UK, the institutions involved told the BBC the issue stemmed from an “abrupt” decision by the government and that they were considering a legal challenge. However, the Department for Education said students had been let down by “incompetence or abuse of the system”.
The president of the National Union of Students, Amira Campbell, said students were “devastated”. “They’re worried, they’re not sleeping, they don’t know where they’re going to find the money,” she said. Khawaja Ahsan has just completed the first year of a BSc cyber security degree at the University of West London, which is advertised as having a Saturday intensive option for students who are working. As well as a maintenance loan, Ahsan has received some childcare support for his three children as a grant, bringing the total to £14,335, which he may now have to repay. “I feel betrayed and massively let down,” he said, adding that he and his wife worked part-time and did not have the money to repay a lump sum.
Late on Wednesday, a handful of the students got a reprieve, with the SLC backing down and reinstating their right to receive payments. The students in question are studying for a four-year BSc in acupuncture, which as well as weekend teaching includes 25 days of hands-on experience in a clinic each year. Almost all the 22,000 other students are still grappling with how to pay back tens of thousands of pounds. According to the NUS, many students have been given a deadline by their university of mid-April to decide whether to stay on their course. Some universities are trying to add teaching during the week or transfer students to similar courses with weekday modules, so that students can continue to be eligible for loans in future. This does not change the expectation that loans already taken out will have to be repaid by students, after the decision to clarify that the courses were not eligible. A statement issued by Universities UK on behalf of the institutions caught up in the row said they were “extremely concerned” that thousands of maintenance loan payments to students had been “abruptly blocked”. They said they were now urgently seeking clarification from the government and many were taking legal advice, adding that the main focus was supporting students. However, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This is not students’ fault. Too many organisations have let their students down, through either incompetence or abuse of the system.” Universities must take immediate action to support students who will face financial difficulties as a result.
