OFFA welcomes changes to repayment terms for part-time students
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has warmly welcomed Government improvements to repayment terms for part-time students. Under the changes, announced on 26 October 2011 by Universities Minister David Willetts, part-time students studying at English universities from 2012-13 will start repaying their loans after four years rather than three years[1] as originally proposed.
Notes to editors
- Details of Willetts’ announcement can be found here.
- The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non-departmental public body established under the Higher Education Act 2004 to help promote and safeguard fair access to higher education. The main way we do this is by approving and monitoring ‘access agreements’. All English universities and colleges offering full-time (and in future, part-time, subject to Parliamentary approval) undergraduate higher education courses must have an access agreement with us in order to charge higher fees. Access agreements set out the access measures (e.g. outreach or financial support) that universities and colleges will put in place.
- For more about OFFA, please see our website www.offa.org.uk, particularly the Quick Facts and FAQ in the Press section.
For further information, contact Zita Adamson, Communications Manager at OFFA, on 0117 931 7272 or 0117 931 7171.
[1] All students start to repay Government loans once they are earning over £21,000. They then repay 9% of any income above £21,000, with repayments stopping if they take a career break or lose their job.