Britain’s trust-based student loan scheme has been exploited by overseas organised crime syndicates, after decades of policy blunders and lax oversight have allowed sham students to siphon millions.
It’s simple. When higher education was funded through local authority grants via Govt means testing kids like me ( poor) could afford Uni. Rich kids could anyway so everything fine. Enter neoliberalism, monetisation of everything, the private sector and shock horror - corruption , cooking the books and criminality. The problems you describe are due to de regulation, a lack of oversight ( crucial for neoliberalism to perform its key task of enriching the rich via the state) greed and political corruption. The system is meant to be lax. The only answer is to nationalise education, de monetise universities and make them student rather than profit centred. It’s the system that’s wrong as even if it worked student loans are a huge disincentive to many of the growing number of children and families in poverty or very near to poverty - as well as those who’s employment is increasingly precarious due to AI, de staffing increased automation etc.
It’s simple. When higher education was funded through local authority grants via Govt means testing kids like me ( poor) could afford Uni. Rich kids could anyway so everything fine. Enter neoliberalism, monetisation of everything, the private sector and shock horror - corruption , cooking the books and criminality. The problems you describe are due to de regulation, a lack of oversight ( crucial for neoliberalism to perform its key task of enriching the rich via the state) greed and political corruption. The system is meant to be lax. The only answer is to nationalise education, de monetise universities and make them student rather than profit centred. It’s the system that’s wrong as even if it worked student loans are a huge disincentive to many of the growing number of children and families in poverty or very near to poverty - as well as those who’s employment is increasingly precarious due to AI, de staffing increased automation etc.
It’s complicated - the former boss of the SLC (Paula Sussex) is about to take over from Rebecca Hilsenrath as Ombudsman…
Indeed https://phsothetruestory.com/2025/04/26/meet-paula-sussex-the-first-digital-ombudsman/