Raise interest rates on old student loans, secret report proposes. [View all]

[dipsydoodle]

A confidential report commissioned by the government has proposed redrawing the terms of student loans taken out over the past 15 years, that would make them more expensive to pay back for 3.6 million borrowers in England alone.

The proposal to increase the interest rates on the £40bn worth of loans is the most controversial of a series of options contained in a Whitehall-commissioned study examining how the coalition could privatise the entire stock of student loans issued since 1998.

Increasing the amount that students would be forced to pay back would make the loans more attractive to buyers.

The document, prepared by Rothschild investment bank, was submitted to the business department in November 2011, but is understood to still be under active review. It has never been made public, or been seen by higher education professionals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jun/13/raise-interest-rate-student-loans-secret-report