Student loans company call in private eyes to track down EU students who owe £50m

Overseas students who have returned home after graduating from British universities have failed to pay back their tuition fee loans, costing UK taxpayers more than £50 million.
With amounts owed by many European graduates spiraling, The Student Loan Company (SLC) has taken the drastic step of calling in private investigators to find the missing money.
Officials have even threatened to take former students to court if they fail to pay back the loans, which are funded by taxpayers.

Turning their backs on repayments: Overseas graduates have failed to repay their student loans after leaving the UK

Many EU nationals have fallen behind on their repayments, while others have not passed on their salary details, leaving officials unable to reclaim the cash.
Other students, who have racked up debts of £41 million, have failed to give information about where they live, if they work, and how much they earn.
MPs have now complained that tighter controls had not been placed on the students, with Labour politician Frank Field urging the National Audit Office to investigate how students are kept track of after leaving university, and the UK.
'The situation has turned into a grants system for many EU students,' he told The Independent on Sunday newspaper.

Conservative MP Andrew Percy told the newspaper that foreign students getting away without paying back the taxpayer-backed money owed jarred with the fact that British students are now shelling out more for tuition than ever before.
'Many of these students will never contribute a penny in income tax to the UK and will be incredibly expensive to track down,' he said.
The SLC, which is owned by the Government, has confirmed that it had hired 'international trace agents' to find the wayward graduates, and make them pay back the money owed - despite official warnings that as many as one in four will never return the cash.

Anger: The news that EU graduates are failing to pay back their student loans comes as British students are facing higher tuition fees than ever before - prompting protests in November 2012

Some graduates could even find themselves being summoned before a court if they fail to adhere to the terms of the loans.
Under new, tighter, controls graduates now have to complete an overseas assessment form as soon as the SLC is informed that the loanee will be leaving Britain.
If that graduate fails to respond within two weeks they are issued with a fixed repayment schedule and if this is not adhered to they are ruled to be in arrears, and subject to collections processes.
The SLC was established in 1989 to provide loans and grants to students studying at British universities and colleges,
In the past five years it has paid out more than £117 million to EU students, but figures show that by last year repayments from loanees responsible for £52 million had either stopped, or had never started. Meanwhile UK graduates owe £28 million.
The total owed by borrowers known to be not paying stands at £41.3 million, those identified as not providing details of income owe £9.1 million, and those known to be overseas but who have fallen into arrears owe £1.6 million.
The figures show that students from Cyprus had borrowed £24 million pounds, but have only paid back £15.5 million.
Graduates from France, Germany and Poland have amassed debts totalling more than £10 million and the SLC is also owed £3.7 million from Irish and £4.3 million Greek students.

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