The UK education secretary has asked counter-fraud experts to investigate reports of millions of pounds in student loans which are being claimed by people, including Romanians, who have no intention of studying.
It follows a report in the Sunday Times which says it found evidence that some individuals enrolled on degree courses at small colleges to access loans with no intention of paying them back.
Bridget Phillipson wrote in the Sunday Times that it was “one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of our universities sector”.
Most of the students under scrutiny are believed to be at small colleges paid to provide courses for established universities.
It claimed there is a concern about the potential “organized recruitment” of Romanians in particular to enroll on courses.
Student Loans Company (SLC) also identified suspicious applications involving fake documents and address duplication, along with franchised colleges enrolling students who don’t speak adequate English, the paper said.
Phillipson said SLC had been working with law-enforcement agencies to investigate the prevalence of some Romanian students at certain colleges, but not enough was being done to stop wider abuse.
“But today’s revelations demand that we must go further and faster to protect the public purse. I will not tolerate a penny of taxpayers’ money being misused,” she wrote.
The UK’s student loan debt currently stands at £236.2 billion, the BBC reported.
Students can take out government-subsidized loans to help towards their maintenance costs and to cover the cost of tuition fees.
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