Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 20 June (HL697), whether the Student Loans Company records the nationality and country of domicile of individuals taking out student loans for higher education, and, if so, how many people took out loans in each year since 2010, broken down by nationality.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) records the nationality and domicile of individuals when they apply for student support. Domicile is based on the applicant’s residence in the years prior to starting their course, and is held as a region within the UK or as EU, rather than by individual country of domicile.

Eligibility for student support is based on residence. EU nationals, including non-European Economic Area (EEA) family members, are able to apply for a tuition fee loan if they have been resident in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course. In addition, EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for five years (three years up to academic year 2016/17) and are resident in England prior to starting their course can also apply for maintenance support. EEA migrant workers and their family members, including those who are non-EEA nationals, who meet the residency requirements, are able to apply for both tuition fee and maintenance support. Non-EEA nationals may also be eligible for student support if they are granted refugee status, have been granted humanitarian protection, have acquired permanent residence in the UK, or have been in the UK for at least half their lives or for at least 20 years.

The table below sets out SLC Management Information on the number of students paid either a full-time tuition fee or maintenance loan through the English student support system by declared nationality over the last five academic years.