Today, your president Grainne sent an open letter to 11 MPs in Hertfordshire, urging them to fight against the proposed U-turn on student loans which may result in graduates paying back more than originally promised.
Your President, Grainne, has written to the Members of Parliament (MPs) for all 11 Hertfordshire constituencies, urging them to fight against proposed changes that will see graduates pay back much more money than originally promised. The proposals would change the terms of the student loans of hundreds of thousands of students and recent graduates.
When the new student loan system came in in 2012, everyone was told that from April 2017 the £21,000 repayment threshold would start to rise annually with average earnings. The government now propose to backtrack on this, meaning students and graduates will likely have to pay back thousands more than expected.
Opposition to the change has triggered a parliamentary debate after receiving in excess of 130,000 signatures on an online petition. That’s why we’re urging students and recent graduates to help us fight these changes, by writing to your MP and asking them to attend the parliamentary debate on Monday 18 July.
Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis, who is leading the campaign, has said ‘we need as many MPs as possible to be at the debate and register their disapproval.’
In Grainne’s letters, which you can see below, she tells Grant Shapps and other Hertfordshire MPs why they need to fight these proposals and ensure that students and graduates aren’t given a raw deal on their student loans and fee debts. No other organisation would be able to retrospectively change the conditions of a loan, so why should the government?
The debate will take place on Monday 18th July at 16:30. We will be providing full coverage of the debate on Twitter @hertssu.
Find out more information on the retrospective student loan hike.