Written question asked by Shivani Raja (Conservative) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Josh MacAlister (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.
Overseas Students: Loans
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the factors contributing to the disparity between repayment rates between UK and non-UK students for their student loans.
- Answer
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All student loan borrowers are required to make repayments towards their loan once they have passed their statutory repayment due date and are earning above the relevant repayment threshold. This includes UK and non-UK students, whether they reside within the UK or without.
Borrowers whose earnings are below the repayment threshold are not required to make repayments. This is a key protection for lower earning borrowers and an accepted part of the subsidy for student loans.
However, if a borrower is non-compliant, the Student Loans Company (SLC) will use the application of fraud detection and investigatory techniques. Where this fails, SLC work with a debt collection agency to target borrowers with arrears balances. Further action, including legal action, can also be taken to secure recovery.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 22396
- Session
- 2026-27
- Subjects
- Loans Overseas students Repayments
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-09-08 10:17:38 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/22396
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/22396
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/22396