Higher Education: Funding

Baroness Sharp of Guildford Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, to say that a Minister is misleading the House is quite a strong thing to say and should definitely be backed up by facts. I refer the noble Lord to a comment by Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, two days ago in an article, where he said that,

“the UK offers still the most scalable and sustainable approach to university finance”.

I wonder whether the noble Lord might in fact withdraw his comments.

[Baroness Sharp of Guildford (LD)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the Higher Education Commission, which questioned the sustainability of the system. Is the Minister aware that the IFS now reckons that, at £44,000, the average debt of UK students is higher than that of students in the United States? Is it really right that a teacher aged 35 should be unable to obtain a mortgage because of the student debt that they still owe? The typical average teacher is likely to be unable to pay off that debt throughout their career.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the way in which the repayment system is structured means that no student, when they complete their studies, should ever be at a financial disadvantage. No graduate has to pay back their loan until they achieve an earning of £21,000 a year. There should not be any fear of an inability to pay back for the postgraduate student.