50,000 students waiting for cash? That's reasonable, says loans chief
The head of the student loans agency caused outrage today by saying it was "reasonable" for 50,000 people to start university without their grants.
The Student Loans Company has failed to cope with a surge in applications this year, leaving tens of thousands of undergraduates facing hardship as they begin their studies.
The quango's chief executive Ralph Seymour-Jackson said: "The situation is not perfect, but it's reasonable." He said the backlog had forced the company to give at least a "basic level" of funding to all students when they arrive at university over the next few weeks. But up to 50,000 students will be forced to wait weeks for the full grant to which they are entitled, he told the BBC.
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, condemned Mr Seymour-Jackson for trying to play down the fiasco.
He said: "It is completely unacceptable for some of the poorest and most vulnerable students in the country to be left short of funds. It is particularly insulting for Ralph Seymour-Jackson to claim that this situation is 'reasonable'."
Mr Streeting said he had received reassurances that the backlogs would "not be a problem" from the agency's subsidiary, Student Finance England, which took over handling applications for English students from councils this year. "Now it is apparent that this is not the case," Mr Streeting said. "Student loans are a lifeline to many people and without them the costs of university would simply be unbearable."
The agency has apologised for the delays. It said there had been a rise of 16.7 per cent in the numbers applying for loans this year, fuelled by a record number of university applications during the recession.
Shadow universities secretary David Willetts said: "This is an appalling administrative cock-up. It would be a tragedy if the Government's failure led to students dropping out of university.
"Ministers need to come clean about precisely when they first knew about the problems, what steps they took to sort them out and exactly how many students are going to be affected."
