Romanians And Bulgarians Blocked From UK Universities After Student Loan Freeze Romanian and Bulgarian students in the UK on funded courses are being “withdrawn” after the government froze their funding, say the National Union of Students. Last November, the Universities and Science Minister David Willetts announced that Student Loans Company (SLC) fee and maintenance funding had been suspended for Romanian and Bulgarian students at UK universities, in cases where the students were also claiming maintenance loans or grants. The students must now supply proof of UK residence, together with three years’ worth of bank statements and utility bills, to the SLC in order for their funding released. This will obviously prove impossible for those students who have come straight from Romania and Bulgaria into higher education. Speaking before a committee of MPs, Mr Willetts said that 7,448 students “had payments blocked”. Only 853 had payments reinstated, and 2,783 have “now replied with evidence”. Under the rules, in order to be eligible for maintenance funding, all European Union students must have been resident in the UK for three years before starting their course. The funding suspension indicates that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills believes that some students were claiming maintenance funds when they were ineligible. Many colleges and universities, perhaps under pressure to recruit following negative changes to Tier 4 Immigration Rules, have not followed the rules and the SLC have allowed EU students to slip through the net. £1.4 billion black hole in funding The Education Minister froze the EU student funding after BIS suddenly discovered a £1.4 billion shortfall in its budget. The billion pound black hole was due flawed forecasts where a higher than expected number of students entered into higher education under the new system, and a lack of control on enrolments by private colleges. EU students at private education providers bore the brunt of the belated action. All students at non-government colleges in receipt of maintenance funding also had their maintenance and fee support frozen. Fourth-year law and sociology student, Ella O’Neil, studying at the University of Warwick was born in Romania but has been resident in the UK for 10 years. Ms O’Neil failed to make an £800 tuition fee payment owed to the university in November as a direct result of the funding freeze. The student said she had also missed out on £1,800 in maintenance funding and a university scholarship. “It’s very stressful. [I’m] in my final year [and] rather than concentrating on my exams I also have to focus on student finance,” she said. Warwick has been “quite understanding” and is “not pressing for tuition fee payments”, she continued. But Ms O’Neil added that she still feared what might happen in the future. “I know that if they [the SLC] turn around and say you are not eligible or the evidence [of residence] is not sufficient, then I will have to pay the tuition fees,” she said. UK residence proof Even a letter from her sixth-form college stating that she had taken her A levels there had been rejected as evidence of residency by the SLC, she said. The student, clearly a UK resident, also said it was her university that informed her in November that her about the EU student funding suspension, and that the first letter from Student Finance England only arrive in mid-January. The SLC informed her last week that it would take three more weeks to resolve her residency claim, originally submitted at the beginning of December, according to Ms O’Neil. Daniel Stevens, NUS international students’ officer, said: “I am hearing horror stories of students suddenly being withdrawn from their courses without explanation. It is incredibly unfair to target groups of students by cutting them off from their studies completely.” Source: The Times. Immigration Adviser Cynthia Barker thinks the measures are draconian: “Foreign students are once again being victimised due to the incompetence of government bodies and QUANGO’s. “Even if the EU student funding withdrawal is proved to be technically correct according to the rules, pulling the rug from under their feet halfway through an academic year is draconian and appears to be aimed at Romanians and Bulgarians.” “Workers and students from EU countries, such as Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria contribute to the UK economy and provide much needed labour for jobs which, frankly, British workers do not want to take –for instance in the care industry where NHS and care providers and crying out for nurses and care workers for unfilled job vacancies in the UK.” If you have any immigration questions, have been arrested, detained, need advice on immigration appeals, or would like further information on UK jobs and UK study programmes contact Cynthia Barker at Concept Care Solutions on 0208 731 5972 or email immigration@londonccs londonccs
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 12:35:37 +0000
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