Student loans system is sustainable, insists minister

By Chris Parr. Universities minister David Willetts has defended the student finance system against criticisms that it is unsustainable and will not bring in the amount of money required to fund the sector long term. Mr Willetts was responding to claims made in a Times Higher Education article by Steve Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter, in which he claimed that an increase in the estimated proportion of students loans that will eventually be written off – the so-called RAB charge - meant the current system would struggle to survive. Currently, graduate salaries are lower than originally forecast when the new fees system was introduced, meaning that students are set to repay their loans more slowly than expected. Also, unless incomes start to rise, fewer students will earn the £21,000 required to trigger loan repayments on graduation. Read more...