Thousands of EU students fail to repay loans

Telegraph
"Official figures show that 45 per cent of students from European Union countries who were liable to start repaying loans had disappeared or were in arrears as of last April. The findings will raise concerns that many of the students, who qualify for subsidised Government loans to cover the cost of tuition fees, could effectively gain a degree for free. By contrast, only two per cent of UK students who were eligible to start repayments had disappeared or were in arrears. Many more had been permitted to defer their repayments because their salaries were below a set threshold. Many of the EU students had returned to their home countries and either failed to inform the Student Loan Company (SLC) of their whereabouts or let their repayments drop. The total outstanding debt liable to be repaid by EU borrowers at the end of 2009/10 was £47.4 million, according to the Department for Business (BIS), which published the figures."