MillionPlus comment on weekend study loan crisis

MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, has today (16 April) commented on the Department for Education’s (DfE) decision to withhold maintenance loans and childcare grants from 22,000 students taught on weekend-only courses.

The intervention comes as nine universities launch a legal challenge against the government over its handling of the issue and as the National Union of Students gears up to present a petition to the DfE in Westminster this evening calling for the decision to be reversed.

Rachel Hewitt, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, said:

“Students are being punished for a system failure not of their making. Thousands of learners – many from disadvantaged backgrounds and balancing work, childcare and study – are now facing the sudden loss of maintenance support mid-course. For some, this funding is their entire budget for rent and living costs. Removing it with little notice could, for many, make continuing in higher education impossible.

“Treating in-person weekend teaching as ‘distance learning’ has no logical basis. How is studying in person on a Saturday and Sunday any different from studying in person on a Tuesday and Wednesday or a Thursday and Friday? The Department for Education owes affected students an answer to that question.

“It is therefore no surprise that universities are now pursuing legal action. Providers have been operating in good faith within a system where the rules and guidance have not been sufficiently clear, and where established practice has been accepted for many years. Retrospectively reinterpreting those rules and placing the consequences on students is neither fair nor proportionate.

“This approach also cuts directly across the government’s own ambitions. If studying in person at the weekend is penalised, it risks shutting out exactly the learners that the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, which ministers have championed, is meant to support.

“Most concerning of all is the way this has been handled. Students have had payments halted with little warning, before providers could put support in place, causing unnecessary anxiety and distress. Moving straight to the most punitive response is disproportionate and damaging.

“At a time when student mental health and wellbeing are priorities of the government and the OfS, to heap this burden onto the individuals concerned in such a manner is unconscionable. The government should pause this action, protect affected students and work with the sector on a fair and workable solution.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. For further information or to arrange an interview, please email press@millionplus.ac.uk
2. MillionPlus is the Association for Modern Universities in the UK, and the voice of 21st century higher education. We champion, promote and raise awareness of the essential role and impact of modern universities in the UK’s world-leading higher education sector. More information can be found at www.millionplus.ac.uk
3. What are modern universities? Modern universities are long established centres of higher education in their communities with roots that stretch back decades, if not centuries. Many gained university title following legislation agreed by parliament in 1992. They make up almost half of the UK university sector with over a million students studying at modern universities every year.
4. Think Modern: Innovation, ingenuity and inclusion from Britain's modern universities – facts and stats