Committee publication · Correspondence · 13 May 2026
Correspondence from Rt Hon Justine Greening, former Secretary of State for Education, on student loans, dated 14 April 2026
From: Treasury Committee
Summary
Rt Hon Justine Greening, former Education Secretary, writes to the Treasury Committee's student loans inquiry urging consideration of a comprehensive reform proposal beyond current system tweaks. She proposes replacing income-contingent loans with a progressive Higher Education Fund financed by all graduates, reintroducing maintenance grants, and enabling employer contributions—arguing the current 'market' approach has failed social mobility objectives.
Key findings
- Greening flagged concerns in 2017 that the student loan system was not resilient long-term and failing its social mobility objective; these concerns 'fell on deaf ears at the Treasury'.
- Current system creates regressive outcomes: disadvantaged students exit university with more debt than better-off peers despite identical qualifications, undermining equality of opportunity.
- Proposed Higher Education Fund would shift from individual debt-based repayment to a contributory model where all graduates pay proportionally to earnings, eliminating annual loan statements and debt aversion.
- Reform would allow employers to contribute to the Higher Education Fund for critical degrees (e.g. STEM) and incorporate apprenticeship levy reform as a wider skills levy.
- Greening argues the 'market' approach to higher education 'has simply not operated in practice' on either demand or supply side, requiring fundamental rather than incremental reform.
Tone
CriticalTopics
higher-educationstudent-financepublic-financeskills-and-apprenticeshipssocial-mobility
Key actors
Rt Hon Justine Greening, Treasury Committee, Treasury, Department for Education, Student Loan Company, HMRC
Notable line
“It is time to stop tweaking a failing system that is predicated on a 'market' approach to higher education which experience shows has simply has not operated in practice - arguably neither …”
Key Quotes
“I had flagged my concerns that the student loan system we had was not resilient for the long term, nor likely to continue working in its social mobility objective”
“… these concerns fell on deaf ears at the Treasury”
“… students from lower income families less able to help them with living costs, come out with more debt, like for like, than their better off peers. That's unfair and cannot be allowed to continue.”
“… graduates that earn the most from having a degree would pay the most into the Higher Education Fund”
“It is time to stop tweaking a failing system that is predicated on a 'market' approach to higher education which experience shows has simply has not operated in practice”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗