I was given a university maintenance loan by mistake, now I’ve been ordered to repay £21k

A student who was told her course was not eligible for financial support has been informed she has to repay a £21,000 maintenance loan.

Agata Wiznefska, who is currently studying for a degree in heath and social care at London Metropolitan University, studies on weekends while working full time during the week.

Speaking to the BBC, the 46-year-old explained, when applying for her course, she was told that she was allowed to apply for a maintenance loan.

However, at the end of March, she received a letter saying that she was not entitled to the loan and that she needed to “return everything.”

She added: “No-one mentioned we were not allowed to.”

Agata also mentioned she had not been told any further details as to how or when to repay the money, other than the fact that she must pay it back before completing her course and has since described it as a “ridiculous situation.”

“I have two daughters, they are at university too. This has not touched them at all thank God, but I am helping them because they can’t go to work,” she said.

“How I will manage from my salary to pay off that £21,000? I know this was a loan and I knew I needed to give it back, but not this way.”

Agata is one of more than 22,000 students that have received a letter from the Student Loans Company (SLC) saying their course was not eligible for maintenance loans or childcare grants.

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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “I have long been clear about our commitment to crack down on university franchising arrangements that do not deliver for their students and abuse the system. I will always prioritise protecting students and safeguarding taxpayers’ money.”

“This is not students’ fault. Too many organisations have let their students down, through either incompetence or abuse of the system. Many of these organisations lack the necessary governance and oversight to properly implement clear guidance. Others have used this loophole as another opportunity to abuse public money. Either way, this is not the standard I expect from our world-class university sector.”

“Universities must take immediate action to support students who will face financial difficulties as a result.”

A spokesperson for SLC said: “The Department for Education (DfE) wrote to a small number of higher education providers (HEPs) on 23 rdMarch, as they had incorrectly categorised courses that are distance learning. DfE has urgently requested that these providers work with SLC to correctly categorise the courses to enable the reassessment of students’ entitlement in line with the Government’s student finance regulations.”

“Following this instruction from DfE, SLC has written to approximately 22,000 customers to inform them of the error made by the providers and advised of the steps that are being taken to correct this. DfE and SLC are clear that providers are responsible for ensuring that courses are classified correctly and that student-facing information must reflect accurate attendance requirements, including weekday attendance where this is a condition of maintenance support.”

“We fully appreciate the students will be concerned about this action, however SLC are required to ensure that public money is used to support student finance as set out in the student finance regulations. DfE has made clear to HEPs it is their responsibility to support the students and provide financial hardship support. Following the courses being correctly classified and students being advised of their reassessed entitlement, customers will be able to make arrangements with SLC to ensure they are supported through this process, including affordable repayment plans being put in place where appropriate.”

London Metropolitan University has been contacted for comment.

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