UCU response to secret plans to hike up student loan rates

Increasing the interest rates on loans already taken out would add extra years of repayments for graduates who left university years ago. Another option in the report was to make the sale of the loan book more popular by using public finances to guarantee returns to private investment.

UCU president, Simon Renton, said 'Once again this government is showing that it's more concerned with helping investors make money than defending the interests of students and taxpayers. In its rush to make the loan book look profitable it is willing to consider changing the repayment rates for students already repaying their loans or committing future generations of taxpayers to paying investors to buy the loans.

'Students and taxpayers deserve better than a Hobson's choice between payday lending or another giant PFI.

'Ministers need to confront the reality that their costly experiment is failing students and taxpayers, and damaging our universities. It's time we had an honest debate about better ways to fund higher education.'

More on the story can be found on the Guardian website.