Foreign students will be banned from accessing taxpayer-funded student loans under Reform UK, the party has announced.
Nigel Farage’s party has vowed to put an end to the current system that has ‘turned our universities into cashpoints for international students’.
Currently up to 300,000 foreign nationals living in the UK access student loans at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £4billion each year – much of which is unlikely to ever be repaid.
The cost of lending to students who are not from Britain or the EU has ballooned by 40 per cent in the last few years – up from £3.2billion in 2021-22.
Official projections show that just over half of loans taken out by undergraduates are expected to be repaid in full and EU students currently owe over £5billion in unpaid loans.
Reform has vowed to put an end to this ‘foreign student ponzi scheme’ and claims it would save about £2billion each year by limiting student loans to British nationals only.
The party said that these savings would be redirected to create a ‘ladder of opportunity for British young people’ instead.
Suella Braverman, Reform’s education spokesman, said that under the current system ‘too many of our universities are selling immigration, not education’.
Suella Braverman, Reform’s education spokesman, said that the current university system has ‘prioritised mass immigration and low standards over quality and the national interest’
Should UK taxpayers be funding student loans for foreign nationals while British students struggle?
‘Reform UK will end this scandal and put the British people first,’ she added.
Under current rules non-British students can borrow tens of thousands of pounds if they have settled status and have lived in Britain for at least three years before starting university.
Student loans are wiped after 30 years for those who started university before 2023, or 40 years after this date. Student loans are funded from the public purse, meaning taxpayers foot the bill for any debt that is not repaid.
But under Reform’s proposals maintenance loans, grants and student loans from the Student Loans Company will be reserved for British nationals only while foreign nationals would be expected to fund their own studies in most circumstances.
The party said ending home fee status for people living in the UK with EU Settled Status would be part of its renegotiation of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.
Ms Braverman said: ‘The university system has prioritised mass immigration and low standards over quality and the national interest and too many universities have become little more than visa factories.’
She added: ‘If you want to study, live and work in Britain, you should do so because you bring high-skill and real value, not because you’ve picked up a third-rate degree from a low ranked university as a back door to settlement in Britain.’
