Education is something that plays a pivotal role in establishing the prosperity of the country. For this very reason educational loans for students are running on a mass scale. However, debts for students have both positive and negative effects. Interest rates are static at the moment and most importantly governments do not always appear to be very concerned about the future of their students.
In days gone by, the government has announced the privatisation of millions of student loans in the span of 1990-98. This mass debt has essentially been sold to a group of financial companies. Students have slammed this decision and demonstrated via many protests, it is clear they are simply not ready to lie back and just accept the status quo. Over the last 3-4 years, government policies have increased student education costs and fees to two or three times the levels experienced in the 90’s.
The selling of loans was perhaps inevitable, with market forces playing its part, but all this leaves students even more desperate once their studies have completed. Paying back a student loan is not very easy for anyone and with these policies the burden of debt after University is increasing to unexpected levels. The Government is facing a lot of criticism from all parties, however the Government has also assured us that there are no intentions of increasing the interest rate in the short term.
Protests have already started against this privatisation, as most people feel commercialising debts will surely result in higher repayment amounts. However, the solution to this problem actually lies within the government. We can only demonstrate and tell them what is the right way forward.