19 March 2010
million+ comment on NAO report into Student Loans Company
Commenting on the Report of the National Audit Office into the Student Loan Company’s attempts to administer the grants and loans to which university students were entitled in 2009, Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of the university think-tank million+ said: “This report makes sorry reading. It is clear that the SLC did not fully understand or test the administrative and computer systems required to deliver a one-stop shop loan facility for students which should have made it easier for them to access the grants and loans which they needed. As a result, applications took a third longer to process and students entitled to disabled students allowance were particularly disadvantaged.
“Amazingly the SLC has no targets at all for the time in which applications for Childcare Grants, Adult Dependants Grant and Parent Learning Allowance should be processed. These are all crucial elements of the support which students with caring responsibilities need to study at university and it is very disappointing that the SLC does not seem to recognise the diversity of the student profile in its operational and customer care targets.
“The SLC can be in no doubt what it needs to do to deliver for students in 2010. in order to avoid the disadvantage which both applicants and universities faced in 2009. Many institutions had to make emergency loans to students to cover up for the SLC’s failings.
“The student loans system in England is immensely complex with different arrangements for full-time and part-time students. The current review of fees and student support in England should certainly consider the merits of a single unified system of student support for all students regardless of whether they study full-time or part-time.”
ENDS
- million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education www.millionplus.ac.uk
- For more information, comment or interviews from million+ please contact Victoria Mills on 07900 277819