Student Loans- Your Details Leaked?

Student Finance England found themselves in hot water on Tuesday after the revelation that they had leaked the details of 8,000 students after an email blunder.

Instead of simply sending a reminder to students who had not yet completed their application, the email which was sent out disclosed the email addresses of all 8,000 intended recipients.

The Student Loans Company were quick to defend themselves but there is little that can now be done beyond apologising, with the details already in the public sphere.

Politics student Rob Birch told The Buzz that he was “really concerned” by the news.

“It’s worrying that such a big company with so much personal data could be so lax” he said, “I haven’t been affected but if they can leak over 8,000 emails simply because of a blunder who knows what could happen next. They have so much information on me. It’s worrying.”

Those students who had their details leaked have already been informed by the Student Loans Company. The company has never been far from the news after failing to properly distribute loans properly in both 2009 and 2010, with at least one student alleging that she had to resort to prostitution to pay her bills.

Tuesday’s revelation is hardly as damaging as those failures for the Student Loans Company but is sure to hit confidence further with one UCL undergraduate saying that it was “another demonstration that Big Brother may be watching you, but he certainly isn’t doing a very good job of looking after you.”