Student loan complaints soar

Mon, 09 May 2011

A rising number of students and graduates have complained about the handling of their student fees in recent years.

Figures obtained by the Independent on Sunday reveal that 1,441 complaints were made against the Student Loans Company (SLC) in 2005-06.

However, in the year to this April, this had soared to 5,648 complaints, more than double the 2,566 made the previous year, said the news provider.

Common grievances included lengthy delays in the payment of loans to the "harassment" of graduates by debt-collection agencies.

Commenting on the figures, Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, said: "The complaints demonstrate students' growing dissatisfaction with all parts of the higher education funding system.

"We will be keeping a close watch to ensure there are no repeats of debacles like the one in 2009."

Last week, a report by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk found that, of those currently doing their A-levels, only 39 per cent said they planned to go to university .

Of those who plan to get a job straight after their A-levels, 67 per cent said they could not afford to go to university because of the planned rise in tuition fees .
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.