100,000 STILL waiting for student loans.Byline: TRICIA PHILLIPS MORE than 100,000 university students are penniless as their student loans fail to arrive. It's now a good month into the term and many are struggling to pay for essentials. The student finance system is in chaos as record numbers applied for loans because of the recession. This and the transfer of the administrations systems from local authorities to the Student Loans Company has led to the delays. "It is scandalous MATTER, SCANDALOUS, equity pleading. A false and malicious statement of facts, not relevant to the cause. But nothing which is positively relevant, however harsh or gross the charge may be, can be considered scandalous. 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 4163. 2. that over 100,000 students have still not received their loans," says Simon Thompson Simon Thompson (born December 10 in Melbourne, 1977) is an athlete from Australia. He competes in triathlon. Thompson trains with the Tridents Triathlon Club in Canberra and is coached by Ben Gathercole. of accommodationforstudents.com "Surely adequate measures should have been put in place well in advance to cope with demand. "Not all students have the luxury of wealthy parents to bail them out, to make sure their rent is paid on time or cover their expenses." The Student Loans Company has admitted some students' documents had been "temporarily mislaid mis·lay tr.v. mis·laid , mis·lay·ing, mis·lays 1. To put in a place that is afterward forgotten: I have mislaid my hat. 2. ". And they say on their website that they are working flat out to process all valid applications. An inquiry has been announced to ensure that this doesn't happen next year. But that's too little too late for students such as Chris Agg who started his Accountancy and Finance course at Northampton on September 19 and hasn't seen a penny of his student loan yet. "I started my application in May and was told it would come through in September. Since then I've been fobbed off again and again," says Chris, 20, from Cambridgeshire. BEGGING "I thought starting uni Uni (  `nē), fl. c.2325 B.C., Egyptian official of the VI dynasty. His career is known through his private inscription. was my chance to gain my independence
and not rely on my parents.
"But here I am begging them for money. They have had to pay my rent and that means they haven't been able to send me my full allowance to cover food and books - so I've had to scrimp scrimp v. scrimped, scrimp·ing, scrimps v.intr. To economize severely. v.tr. 1. To be excessively sparing with or of. 2. To cut or make too small or scanty. on food and I can't buy essential books. "I'm into my overdraft and clocking up bank charges already. "I have no idea when I'll get my loan. It takes forever to get through to Student Loans, then they keep you hanging on for ages and each time give you different dates." Like tens of thousands of students, we couldn't get anyone at the Student Loans Company to give us an answer as to when this fiasco will be sorted. We give them a straight F. CAPTION(S): FOBBED OFF: Chris Agg is having to rely on his parents for now |
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