UK Student Loans up 6% this year

17th June 2007

UK university students were lent more than £3 billion in the last financial year. The Student Loans Company (SLC) said the total lent to all students during the financial year 2006/07 for English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish universities was £3.4 billion.

This compares with £2.9 billion lent the previous year. The scale of lending to students comes as figures show applications to universities continue to rise.

Latest figures from admissions service UCAS suggested a slight increase in the numbers of people from less wealthy backgrounds applying to university.

Overall, 446,765 people had applied by March 24 to start courses in 2007, up from 424,560 by the same point in 2006 - a rise of 5.2%.

Applications from England, where students pay top-up fees of up to £3,000 per year, were up by 6%, confirming the trend from figures released earlier this year. Applications from Wales were down 0.2%, with a 1% fall in the number of people applying from Scotland, where fees have been scrapped. Applicants from Northern Ireland were down 4.8%.

“The facts speak for themselves - the number of applicants applying for university in 2007 is up by 6% compared to 2006, the highest ever at this point in the application cycle. Providing loans and grants for students’ living costs and tuition fees underpin the Government’s policy to both increase and widen participation in higher education. Student loans are the safest and most effective way of financing education, and the general picture is that students are borrowing within the amount to which they are entitled, not beyond their means”. said Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell.