Over a thousand Exeter students were amongst hundreds of thousands across the country who received the first instalment of their student loan late this year.
Data retrieved through the Freedom of Information act (FOI) revealed that of the 9,400 undergraduates at the University applying for ‘core support’ – including tuition fees, maintenance loans and maintenance grants – 1,180 were paid late.
Nationally, the proportional figure was much higher, as 175,000 students were scheduled to face delayed payment. That equates to nearly 20 per cent of the 925,000 applicants for core support.
Exeter students have been provided with an “expected date of payment” for each of their three instalments, the first of which was the 24 September, but this year 13 per cent of students were not paid by that date.
The figure does not include the 1,657 international undergraduates, who have different financial arrangements, or the 779 home/EU undergraduates who did not apply for core support.
With tuition fees soaring, alongside the substantial cost of living in the city, many students – particularly first years – are now greatly dependent on their loans.
Having negotiated Freshers’ Week without any state funding, support from the government is then expected to help cover first term investments on necessities such as accommodation, books and food. But without the scheduled payment – a minimum of £1,018.47 – students can become overwhelmed by the financial burden of living away from home.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has not disclosed the average waiting time for core support, but a first year International Relations student had her payment delayed by nearly six weeks.
Alice Lynch explained: “It was really inconvenient. Some money came through two weeks late but that was the wrong amount.
“Thankfully Exeter were sympathetic over accommodation, but it was still frustrating because I’d done all the paperwork correctly, yet the SLC’s excuses just kept coming. I had to go into my overdraft, delay joining societies and buying the books I needed.”
Officials from the government-funded institution have pointed to a number of factors contributing to late payment of Exeter students, including overdue confirmation of attendance from the University and delays in bank processing.
As the SLC prepares to commence secondary loan payments early next January, it has published figures showing that even by 14 October, around 100,000 UK applicants had still not received their full entitlement.
The unprecedented statistics are the latest in a long line of controversies surrounding the company, whose chief executive Ed Lester said in May that he would stand down following scrutiny of his £182,000 salary, in connection with a tax avoidance inquiry.
Student loan payments have often been perceived as unreliable, especially after the SLC’s then deputy chief executive, Derek Ross, compared mislaying student documents to “losing your car keys,” during an inquiry in 2009 when around 115,000 UK students were paid late.
Fresh questions about competency and bureaucracy levels at the company now look likely to resurface, particularly after Scotland’s Education secretary, Michael Russell, ordered a review into why numerous Scottish students had not been paid by November.
With the deadline for the second phase of instalments looming, students in Exeter and around the country will be hoping for more timely funding when next term begins.
By Harrison Jones
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