Sale of Student Loans: Regulation
Debate between Rupa Huq and Jim Cunningham(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Cunningham
I totally agree with my hon. Friend. It is about time we stopped social engineering with education. We are getting to a point where we want some sort of commission established. I hope the Minister will announce that when he responds to the debate.
Will the personal details of students be secure? How will repayment work for European Union students? How will Welsh students be affected? The National Union of Students has consistently expressed concerns that such a sale is not in the interests of students, graduates or taxpayers. What implications will the sale have for students?
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
I have the University of West London in my constituency. I do not have as many universities as my hon. Friend, but has he received emails, as I have, from students who are concerned that the indecent haste to sell off the family silver will mean that students who thought they were taking out debt that could go back to the state to fund public services will now be lining the pockets of private companies? It makes no financial sense, as the Financial Times has pointed out.
Mr Cunningham
My hon. Friend has put her finger on it. The Government are clearly taking an ideological approach, rather than a logical approach.
Can the Minister tell us whether there will be protection from adverse terms and conditions? In the future, we may find ourselves in a situation where the terms and conditions of student loans are designed with future buyers in mind, rather than the interests of students. The sale will not protect post-2012 students from further retrospective changes to repayment terms. That is a source of anxiety for many students and may have an impact on people’s decision to go to university. Students are questioning who is really benefiting from their education.
Selling student loans represents a dangerous precedent. It paves the way for future privatisation of the education sector—I hope my colleagues will note that. The NUS is strongly opposed to the idea that profit is made from student debt. Privatising public assets should not be done for short-term profit.
Finally, the Government never learn any lessons. The sale will do nothing to ease the burden of debt piled on students who have faced trebled tuition fees and the scrapping of maintenance grants and bursaries. The Government have already changed the terms of post-2012 loans. How will the sale instil any confidence that more changes will not be made that are detrimental to students?