The British student loan system is rigged; 370,000 “disappeared” graduates with debts of 13 billion. The authorities blame the Romanians

Accusations have emerged that graduates are “swindling” the student loan system out of billions of pounds, as authorities say they have lost track of hundreds of thousands of customers.

It is not the first time that such accusations have appeared, and an extensive investigation by the British publication Sunday Times previously wrote that people who have “absolutely no academic intention” enroll every year in university courses to take loans, “with no intention of repaying them”, and British officials speak of an “organized recruitment”, especially of Romanian citizens.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) has admitted it has no details of the employment or financial status of more than 370,000 beneficiaries who owe it a total of almost £13 billion.

Many of them are EU students who have returned home or Britons who have emigrated. Others may not work, claim welfare or earn enough to repay the money.

Experts warn that the graduate “leakage” of the loan repayment scheme could leave taxpayers on the hook.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), said: “These big numbers show a huge potential for leakage from the student loan system.”

“We've seen in recent weeks how angry graduates are that they have to pay so much for their own education, but someone will eventually have to foot the bill for those who drop out of the system entirely.”

Hillman suggested policymakers should “look at New Zealand”, where “harsh late payment penalties” are imposed on defaulters.

Independent MP Rupert Lowe, who obtained the figures through a parliamentary inquiry, says an investigation is needed to establish whether the university loan system is being “scammed” by foreign students defaulting on the money.

Lowe stated, “I want to know exactly how many of these lost students are foreign nationals.”

“I think we are dealing with an industrial-scale scam still going on, whereby foreigners, especially from Romania, take out loans with the intention of never paying them back.”

“I'm calling on the government to launch a full investigation and then restrict student loan eligibility to British citizens only.”

“Billions and billions missing. Who is responsible? Who was fired? Where is the investigation?”

“We are talking about gross incompetence at best, industrial fraud at worst. There must be severe consequences.”

Richard Fuller, the Tory's education spokesman, told the Telegraph he feared the taxpayer could be footing the “colossal bill”.

He added: “Every taxpayer penny and every additional loan made on behalf of our taxpayers should be handled with the same seriousness and care that our citizens handle their own household finances.”

In December the total value of all outstanding loans was £226 billion.

Therefore, the £12.8bn of loans for which graduates' income cannot be verified represents just under 5.7% of the total.

And the 376,410 graduates whose incomes are not verified represent one in 15, or 6.64 percent, of the 5.7 million students or graduates with outstanding loans.

SLC has denied that all unverified customers are “gone” at the same time – also claiming that some of them may not be required to repay their loan.

On the other hand, SLC admitted that it is possible that some of them went abroad.

The organization said its clients are required to inform it if they are going abroad for more than three months – meaning some graduates could be in that three-month period.

Earlier this week it emerged that Keir Starmer “could offer EU students reduced tuition fees”.

The Prime Minister has been warned that British universities could lose £580m if they discount EU under-30s studying in the Kingdom.

After Brexit EU students pay the higher fee for international studies, £11,400-£32,000 a year, compared to the UK student fee of £9,535.

But the EU is pressuring the government to cut fees for EU students as part of a proposed youth mobility deal.

Sir Keir agreed to the “youth experiment scheme” as part of his Brexit “reset” deal, which will allow 18-30-year-olds from the EU to live, work and study in the Kingdom.

Negotiations on the deal, which will also allow young Britons to live, work and study in the EU, have stalled over the tuition fees issue.

The Labor Party will be reluctant to give a discount to EU students as British graduates continue to face huge student loan debt.

A new poll by YouGov shows that more than four in 10 Britons (44%) think the government should cancel part or all of student debt.

The survey also showed that three-quarters (76%) of respondents think the 6% interest rate on some student loans is too high.

Two-thirds (68%) said tuition fees of £9,000 a year for students in England were too high.(Material produced with the support of Rador Radio Romania)