SHOW ME THE MONEY

Student Finance England (SFE) has run into problems processing applications from students. Affected students have encountered repeated delays, complex forms, and phone calls that go nowhere.

This year it seems some students may not be receiving student loan payments at the start of their courses, leaving them wondering how they will be paying for food, rent, and other Freshers’ week essentials (beer, pot noodles, etc).

The NUS has been "inundated" with calls from concerned students, leading to the National President writing to the chief of SFE, and a promise from SFE to employ a further 144 staff. This year’s problems will lead to many students and their dependants becoming financially unstuck until SFE can fix these issues.

700,000+ people are expecting to be paid at the end of September, and this year (for the first time) all applications from England are to be processed by SFE rather than local authorities. Whilst a region-wide system might work for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, there are many more students applying in England than any of these regions; this suggests that the system is just unable to handle the number of requests.

Last year, a number of students at UEA were in a similar position due to administrative errors. Those who were unable to get temporary support from relatives or friends, faced an uncomfortable few weeks living with no cash before these problems were ironed out.

This follows a series of similar errors, such as thousands of EMA payments being delayed due to computer problems at administration firm Liberata last year, and the repeated SATs marking debacles.

DUNCAN SMITH
DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR