Birmingham guild strongly oppose proposals to reduce student loans threshold

Students across Birmingham could soon be paying back their student loan sooner, If a government plan goes ahead.

The government is planning to reduce the salary threshold at which students begin to repay their loans.

At present, students only need to start repayments once they start to earn £27,295 a year, this is for a Plan 2 student loan.

According to the Financial Times, one minister commented “that’s the plan,” on the subject of reducing the salary threshold.

The National Union of Students have said that they are “totally opposed” to any reduction in the payment threshold.

Mikey Brown, President of the Guild of Students at the University of Birmingham, said: “We strongly oppose the Government’s proposals to reduce the threshold for student loan repayments.

“Coming on the back of tremendous disruption to studies caused by the pandemic and a regressive rise in National Insurance contributions, this is another example of the Government’s attack on students and young people.

“It will hit lower earning graduates hardest and benefit high-earners disproportionately, entrenching further the profound inequality in our society.

“A University Education can be a transformational experience for many, including me, and to safeguard this, so that students from all backgrounds can continue to benefit, any funding shortfall should be addressed through progressive general taxation with the wealthy asked to pay more.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “We continue to consider the recommendations made by the Augar panel carefully alongside driving up quality of standards and educational excellence and ensuring a sustainable and flexible student finance system.”