Education secretary Sam Gyimah has revealed that more than 800 nursing students have been affected by an administrative error by the Student Loans Company.
Last month, Nursing in Practice reported that students from at least nine universities would not receive any more payments from the Student Loans Company due to an administrative error that saw them overpaid on instalments back in September 2017.
But at the time it was unclear just how many students were affected, and the number of universities impacted.
Responding to questions put to him by Conservative MP Gary Streeter, Mr Gyimah disclosed that 804 NHS funded nursing students had been overpaid loans and maintenance grants by the Student Loans Company, across 20 different universities.
Mr Gyimah said that none of the students affected ‘should suffer hardship as a result of the error, and that affected students should ‘contact the Student Loans Company’.
This is despite the company reassuring students who had contacted them earlier in the academic year to query an overpayment.
RCN chief executive Janet Davies once again called on the Government to write off the overpayments.
She said: ‘Nursing students should not be paying the price for this error, and the subsequent clumsy attempts to reclaim the overpayments. What makes this particularly galling is that those students who queried the payments were told they were correct.
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‘Ministers must use their power to resolve this fiasco, write-off the overpayments and protect students from further stress and disruption.’
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Universities with students affected by the error
Brunel University London Cardiff University Glyndwr University Plymouth Marjon University University of Brighton University of Manchester University of Southampton University of Suffolk University of West London Related Article: £30million set aside to fund nurses in research positions Leeds University University of Essex University of Bedfordshire University of Worcester Anglia Ruskin University London Metropolitan University University of Central Lancashire University of Derby Related Article: Bringing the views of student nurses into general practice: Learning disability University of Portsmouth University of Reading University of Salford |
