Government must make case to taxpayers for sale of student loan book, says UCU

The union also warned that the government needed to make a clear commitment that if the sale was to go ahead future students would not be hit with increased interest rates on their repayments.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The government has tried to sell off parts of the student loan book before, but not gone through with it because it didn't feel the taxpayer would get a good deal. It now needs to make the case to the taxpayer that this would represent a good deal if it is to go ahead.
 
'As students are forced to borrow more to meet the cost of their university education, we need a guarantee that the interest rate on student loans will not rise and we will not move towards a system with a commercial rate of borrowing.'
 
Sally Hunt went on to criticise the Student Loan Company (SLC) for the current fiasco with the late payments of loan money to students. Sally Hunt said: 'Many students and parents may welcome the loan book being sold off considering the current fiasco the SLC is presiding over. It is totally unacceptable that so many students are still waiting to receive money, particularly first year students. Moving to university is a stressful and expensive time and to attempt to do that without finances that had been promised is just not on. Furthermore, as we all feel the pinch in these tough economic times, many parents, who will already have done their best to support their kids, will struggle to provide desperately needed funds for their offspring.'