IFS research proves student loan requirements 'attack on the working class'

The union was responding to research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies which shows that requiring university applicants to have at least a 4/C grade in English and maths GCSEs, or two A levels (or equivalents) at grade E or above would retrict access to student loans for around 40% of school pupils.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'This research provides yet more evidence that imposing student loan eligibility criteria would be an attack on the working class, with ministers attempting to slam the gate shut on those it deems unworthy of entering higher education. Students from well off backgrounds will still be able to get their education funded by their family, so will not be impacted by arbitrary restrictions for access to loans. Instead, the changes would limit access to higher education for those from less well-off backgrounds and widen society's dividing lines. If enacted they would make a mockery of the government's proclaimed commitment to levelling-up.'