Look at interest rates to reduce student loan repayments
Last updated 3 years ago
Conservative Party Manifesto 2019, p.37We will look at the interest rates on loan repayments with a view to reducing the burden of debt on students.
Our verdict
- This is a promise to review the interest rates of student loans and try to reduce the debt burden on higher education students.
- Student loan interest rates for those still studying are set annually at RPI + 3% and this has not changed or been reviewed under the current government. In January 2021, the Skills for Jobs white paper laid out plans for a new ‘Lifelong Loan Entitlement’ for post-18 education to be introduced in 2025; the enabling legislation was outlined in the May 2021 Queen’s Speech, but there was no mention a review of loan interest rates.
- The promised Skills and Post-16 Education Bill will introduce the Lifelong Loan Entitlement, but with no evidence to date of a systematic review, despite calls from university vice-chancellors for a temporary waiver of student loan interest during the coronavirus pandemic, this policy is ‘not started’.
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