Time to change the way student loans are paid

By David Ellis. Paying student loans in one lump sum pushes undergraduates into debt and provides no practical experience for financial responsibility in later life, says David Ellis. Seventeen and 18 year-olds entering university this year will have changed quite a bit since Tony Blair introduced maintenance loans during his early years of government. Most are taller, for instance, and some will have stopped wetting the bed.
Yet 15 years on, they’ll still be burdened by maintenance loans which, save for a paltry inflation of the figures, remain essentially the same as when they were toddlers. Read more...