Student loan hike will hurt local people

4.01.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 15th Nov 2007

James MacCleary and Carla Butler are two young councillors in Lewes who will be affected by the hike.

There has been a nasty shock for people across our area with the news that the Student Loans Company has doubled the rate of interest of their loans from 2.4% to 4.8%.

This is both bad news for current students at universities like Brighton and Sussex, and for former students who have been saddled with a debt that has just doubled in its cost.

The Lib Dems were the only party to oppose student loans and tuition fees, and had them abolished in Scotland. Local Lib Dem councillors are among the youngest in the South East with two currently studying at Sussex University, and the two youngest councillors ever elected to Lewes District Council getting in this May.

"When the student loans were introduced it just looked like a way of taxing graduates." says Newhaven councillor Carla Butler, a current student at Sussex University. "It is not often that you see a tax rate double overnight. This is unfair and serves no purpose but to fill government coffers at the expense of students."

Lewes councillor, James MacCleary, adds: "I graduated 5 years ago and still have a huge student debt hanging over me. I think it's hypocritical that politicians like David Cameron patronise students by telling them they should pay for their education when they went to expensive schools and had their time at university paid for by the state.

"There is a group on Facebook protesting the interest hike, and a petition to the government about how the interest is calculated on the Prime Minister's website."

Link to Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4866172309&ref=mf.

Link to petition - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CPI-not-RPI/