Student Loan Repayment Plans Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Josh Babarinde
Main Page: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)Department Debates - View all Josh Babarinde's debates with the Department for Education
Student Loan Repayment Plans
Josh Babarinde Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)
I thank the hon. Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing the debate. The current student loans regime has transformed halls of residence into a student “Hotel California”, where folks can check out—they can graduate—but can never leave. They can pay exactly what is asked of them month on month, yet end up with a total bill that gets bigger year on year.
It was the prospect of a greater bill burden that fired me up, as a student in 2010, to stand in Parliament Square and oppose some of the changes that were coming through, but the effect of those reforms has been compounded by two key changes on the watches of subsequent Governments. The first is the Conservatives’ unilateral removal of maintenance grants, which forced students to borrow even more to live. Indeed, the proportion of students taking out only a tuition fee loan, and no maintenance loan, is the highest in a decade. That means either that the student population is now skewed towards those who are more privileged, which calls into question its inclusion, or that less well-off students are going without the maintenance support that they need and deserve. Either outcome would be a shameful reality.
The second key change, which the hon. Member for Ilford South highlighted, is the freezing of the repayment threshold—a student stealth tax that will make it even more difficult for students to live going forward. That is why I call on the Government to revisit the freezing of the threshold and to reinstate maintenance grants for students.