Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the quality of communications materials about student loans and their terms, in particular the communication of risk and long-term costs to vulnerable students; and what steps she will take to help ensure full transparency about the cost of these loans.

Prospective students have access to a wide range of information across a range of platforms before they submit their loan application including, but not limited to, GOV.UK, where students can access the student finance calculator, Student Loan Company (SLC) guidance and university prospectus.

Students can also access The Student Room webpage, where SLC provide articles on student loans and staff from SLC are available in the online forums to answer direct questions from individual students five days a week.

Access to this information up-front ensures that prospective students can weigh up the likely overall costs and benefits to them of undertaking higher education, alongside the financial cost of repayment across the length of the loan period. Additionally, for those who may still be unclear about the long-term commitment of a student loan, a potential borrower may seek other independent advice before accepting the terms and conditions.

The government is capping the maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and 3 student loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year. It does not resolve all of the issues with the Plan 2 system, which was designed and implemented by previous government. We are considering how to make the system fairer, but to be fiscally responsible we must consider how any change would be funded.