Fairer higher education system for students and taxpayers

The higher education system in England will be made fairer for students and taxpayers thanks to major reforms announced by the government today.

Student finance will be put on a more sustainable footing by ensuring more students are paying back their loan in full, and there will be a clampdown on poor-quality university courses that don’t benefit graduates in the long-term.

Under the current system, more people than ever are going to university but too often, students are racking up debt for low-quality courses that do not lead to a graduate job with a good wage. This means that some students never even start paying off their student loan. And currently, only a quarter of students who started full-time undergraduate degrees in 2020/21 are forecast to repay their loans in full.

The cost of student loans is increasing quickly. The value of outstanding loans at the end of March 2021 reached

Students often choose to study at higher education level to further an interest in a particular subject, or in a particular vocation. Some careers, such as those in medicine, nursing, architecture, law and pharmacy, cannot be practised without a particular vocational degree.