Over 70,000 students are short of money, due to delays in The Student Loans Company’s processing system. The company has distributed £43m less in funding than last year, despite an increasing number of student numbers.
Thousands of students have received none, or part of their grant and loan money. 12,000 disabled students have also been left without money that is vital for their education and special equipment. Campaigners have said that the progress is so slow; it would take 75 to clear the backlog. This leaves many (disabled) students struggling not to drop out.
The government allocates around £90m every year to disabled students. They can qualify for around £5,000 for equipment, and more than £20,000 to pay for a personal helper. Lord Addington, wrote to university ministers this week demanding action to prevent students being forced to drop out. The SLC issued a statement apologising to disabled students that have no received their money yet.
Personal opinion:
I think the Student Loans Company should do whatever it takes to make sure the students get their money as soon as possible. As I described above, the monthly grant you get is so important to many students, many of them wouldn’t even be able to go to college or university without a grant. Of course you can get a job but, especially if you live on your own, it’s really hard to combine work and school.
I think student grants are very important. The fact that there are so many students short of money is really concerning. Being a student myself I know how important it is to get money from the government every month, and I can imagine it must be even harder if you’re disabled and need expensive equipment.
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