Student Maintenance Loan Row Leaves 22,000 Students Facing Repayment Demands
More than 20, 000 students are facing urgent repayment demands after a student maintenance loan and, in some cases, childcare grants were issued in error for weekend courses. The affected students received letters from the Student Loans Company or their university telling them they had never been eligible for the support because of how their courses were registered. The issue spans 15 universities and colleges, and the Department for Education says the problem came from providers incorrectly classifying the courses.
Repayment notices land for weekend-course students
The letters say any over-payment will have to be repaid, placing students in a sudden and uncertain position. The affected courses had in-person teaching at weekends, and some also included online learning during the week. In an unknown number of cases, the degrees were being delivered under a franchise deal, where a university awarding the degree contracts with a smaller organisation to deliver the course.
The institutions named in the coverage include London Met, Bath Spa, Leeds Trinity, Southampton Solent and Oxford Brookes. One letter seen by the says the student’s university gave incorrect information and “unfortunately, they didn’t tell us you only attended on the weekend”. Payments to affected students are also understood to have been halted.
Student Maintenance Loan support and the scale of the issue
The student maintenance loan is designed to help cover living costs such as accommodation and food, and it is normally paid directly to students in instalments. Students start repayments on both maintenance loans and tuition loans after they finish their degree and earn above a threshold. Some of the students also received childcare grants, which for eligible students do not have to be repaid.
Officials say the scale of the problem is substantial, with around 22, 000 students understood to be affected. The Student Loans Company has told students to ask for extra help if repayment would cause financial difficulties, and says universities may be able to offer support. In a joint statement issued through Universities UK, institutions involved said they were considering a legal challenge and described the situation as the result of an abrupt government decision.
Immediate reaction from students and officials
Amira Campbell, president of the National Union of Students, said students were “devastated. ” She added: “They’re worried, they’re not sleeping, they don’t know where they’re going to find the money. ” The Department for Education said students had been let down by “incompetence or abuse of the system, ” and education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This is not students’ fault. ”
Phillipson said the government would prioritise protecting students and safeguarding taxpayers’ money, adding that too many organisations had let students down through either incompetence or abuse of the system. The department also said the weekend courses affected were often franchised, and that tighter rules were announced last year because of concerns about fraudulent activity.
What happens next for affected students
For now, students are being told to seek additional help if the repayment would cause financial difficulty, while universities consider their next steps and legal advice. Khawaja Ahsan, who has just completed the first year of a BSc cyber security degree at the University of West London, said his maintenance loan and childcare support totalled £14, 335 and may now have to be repaid. The immediate question is how quickly institutions and government bodies can resolve the dispute without pushing more students into financial distress over the student maintenance loan error.
