Photo: Tristan Martin via flickr
Government officials have ruled out a review of the student loans system despite the recommendations made by a Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee, Asmund Lovdal reports.
The NUS said the response by the government shows “worrying complacency.” Megan Dunn, NUS vice president (higher education), said:
“It is outrageous that the Government are once again refusing to listen to a long line of disappointing revelations that have consistently blown apart ministers’ claims that £9,000 fees would save public money. The Government’s own figures show that the prospect of a huge black hole looming over the budget is very real. It’s time the government started taking this issue seriously.
“We still have a student loan system that is entirely unsustainable, one that has been discredited. Forcing debt onto students as a way of funding universities is an experiment that has failed not just students but our country. Politicians need to recognise that we will only achieve a sustainable higher education funding system if we abandon the discredited regime of sky-high fees and debts altogether.”
In the report presented in July this year, the committee recommended that the department conducts a full review of all financial assumptions underpinning the RAB [regulated assest based, ed] model.
Today the government ruled out any plans to carry out such a review. An official response published today said:
“The government has no current plans to initiate a formal review of the sustainability of the student loans system in England.”
“The costs of the loan system are based on projections of graduate repayments over the next 35 years. These projections were revised in 2013-14 following changes to the student loan repayments model but will continue to fluctuate due to numerous macroeconomic variables and present no immediate pressure on the system.”