Just in case you didn't know, the Government is looking to sell off the student loan book, basically privatising The Student Loans Company (SLC). OK, so what? University costs enough as it is, it's not like selling the SLC off will drive prices up from their £9,000-a-year peak. However, the problem is, the loans system is so unworkable, MPs say, that no-one's going to want to buy it. Following Vince Cable's decision to stall the sell-off, Adrian Bailey, chairman of the Commons committee scrutinising the student loans system, said: 'The financial funding system for higher education is looking increasingly fragile, coming under the strain of unfunded commitments and poor debt collection.'
'The student loans system needs urgent attention and it's vital that BIS [the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills] doesn't further undermine the viability of the system by selling off the income-contingent loan book at a knock-down price,' The Guardian reports him as saying.
'With the prospect of a large potential black hole in budget figures, the Government needs to get its act together and properly calculate how much of these student debts are ever likely to be paid back.'
'The Government needs to set out a clear timescale for pushing ahead with a review of the overall student loans system because the alternative is an unfunded model that would leave students, universities, and taxpayers with a very raw deal indeed.'
At the moment, for every £1 the Government loans out for a student loan, it loses 45p in return. It was meant to be a 28p loss per pound. Ooops!
This is not only because the Student Loans Company isn't being rigorous enough when collecting repayments from ex-students both here and abroad, but because the targets set for recollection were 'not fit for purpose' – which basically means – no duh – that graduates can't afford to repay their loans.
The Government committee has called for an urgent review of the system, which is basically what students and graduates have wanted for years, right?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.