Government under pressure over rising EU student debt

Conservative backbenchers are pressuring the government over funding for European Union (EU) students at UK universities, as the latest figures showed outstanding debt more than doubling in a year, writes John Morgan for Times Higher Education.

With the outlay on loans about to increase as tuition fees rise to a maximum of £9,000 (US$14,000) from this autumn, figures on loan repayments by EU students have provoked further concerns about the sustainability of the new student loans system. Undergraduates from EU countries outside the UK have the same access to fee loans as their domestic peers. But while UK graduates have repayments automatically deducted from their payslips, the system relies on their EU counterparts providing earnings data upon their return home.
Full report on the Times Higher Education site