Loan delays leave students in financial crisis

[Legal Beagles]

A BBC survey has shown that universities are having to step in and hand out emergency ‘hardship loans’ in order to cover essential living costs such as rent and food bills after severe delays to the issuing of loans and grants to first year students.
Tens of thousands of students are still waiting for their loans due to delays after the Student Loans Company (SLC) took over from local authorities the job of processing applications for first year students. This coincided with an unprecedented rise in applications for loans fuelled by higher student numbers in the recession.
Many students without money have been forced to rely on bailouts from their families and friends for food and rent, or to lean on universities for financial assistance as they face the potential of having to drop out of their courses.
The Students Loan Company chief executive Ralph Seymour Jackson has provided no clear answers to when the present crisis will be resolved. In April this year, SLC explained the delay by pointing to technical problems with their scanning equipment. Despite having had several months to fix this, technical issues continue be blamed for the current crisis.
The higher education minister David Lammy has now ordered an independent inquiry into the issue whilst HM revenue and customs will be leading a review of the SLC in light of the delays in processing this years student loans.


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[Main man]

Re: Loan delays leave students in financial crisis

Student Loans Company paid £2m in bonuses says Williams

Mon, 16 Nov 2009

The Student Loans Company has paid out nearly £2m in bonuses to staff despite leaving more than 100,000 students waiting weeks to receive their loans this autumn, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.
The figures, received following a Freedom of Information request, show that £1,893,000 was paid in bonuses between 2007 and 2009.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Universities Secretary, Stephen Williams said:

“It is absolutely outrageous that the Student Loans Company, which has acted so incompetently this year, has been paying out these massive bonuses.

“While students have been left struggling to make ends meet, the company’s top executives have been enjoying five figure bonuses.

“Some of these pay-outs are more than many people earn in a year. Rewarding failure in this way is totally unacceptable.”


http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detai...e80-93dd-b80fc