Reply to post: Re: £50m - why not simply pay the fees?

Student Loans Company burns £50 million in IT project superfail

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Re: £50m - why not simply pay the fees?

Why not pay the fees directly or make it a tax liability? Reason against both of these invloves the EU single market rules + the linked increased mobility of people now. If all fees were paid directly (as in the "good old days ... when income tax started at 30+%!) the EU rules meant all EU students would have to have their fees paid (note, in Scotland since Scottish students have free tuition all other non-UK EU students get free tuition) and assumption is they might well return to their home country before they'd made the additioanl UK tax payments topay forthis. Similarily, if it was a tax liability then anyone getting a UK university education could avoid the atx by working abroad. The current loan scheme can only really be understood as being intended to be a graduate tax where the tax payment is called a "loan repayment" so that its still a liability if you are not within the UK tax system (the load agreement students sign m,akes it clear taht if you move abroard then you are responsible for ensuring any repayments that are required are made .... and I gather that any arrears/penalities from not doing this do not get written off after 30 years like the rest of the loan)

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