We have recently seen widespread reports that the Government are planning to lower the threshold that graduates repay their student loans. Currently, graduates do not start to repay their loans until earning £27,295, and the new figures being reported range from £23,000 to as low as £20,000. This is in line with the 2019 Augar Review of post-18 education, which recommended a repayment threshold of £23,000 (the Review does also make other, more welcome recommendations including lowering tuition fees to £7,500 and reintroducing maintenance grants, which were scrapped in 2016).

We've had several students getting in touch with us to express their disappointment and unease at the reports.

"The repayments of the loan for me will be devastating at such a low wage"

"If this was to happen before I started, I may never have come to University in the first place"

"I feel we will lose a lot of students in my position or at the most part put them off completely as it would not be worth the financial strain"

Wednesday 27 October saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, unveil the Government's latest budget for the next year, with there being no specific mention of a change in the student loan repayment threshold. Whilst it may appear that this provides some welcome relief, the Government is yet to announce the finer details of the budget and everything that will be affected. It is very possible that we will see further announcements on university funding in the coming weeks.

Next steps from the SU are to monitor the situation and any further reports coming in relating to the issue of student loan repayments. We're inviting any students to get involved with this and feedback to us any further developments or anything you spot.

Our Student Rights and Campaigns team are here to stand up for your rights whilst at university, and are keen to hear more from anyone who is passionate about this issue or any other issues relevant to them and fellow students. Get in touch at studentrights@shu.ac.uk.