Model uses student loan for breast op ... then quits university after 2 weeks
AN aspiring model enrolled at university just to gain £14,000 worth of student loans to help pay for breast enlargement surgery.
Catherine Byrne spent the government cash – meant to fund tuition fees and living expenses – on boosting her B cup to a d, as well as other beauty treatments.
The 29-year- old has admitted duping the University of East London into believing she wanted to study psychology, but attended only a fortnight of lectures.
She had enrolled on the course simply to access the loans because she was ‘embarrassed’ by the size of her breasts and wanted to become a model. She is a fan of glamour model Katie Price, formerly known as Jordan.
As soon as she was accepted by the university Miss Byrne, from Billericay, Essex, applied for a £7,000 loan. of the money, £4,000 was intended for maintenance and £3,000 for tuition costs. However, she used £3,600 to have a breast enlargement and also paid for Botox injections and fillers to achieve a ‘frozen’ look.
She told a newspaper: ‘As soon as the money hit my account I booked in to have a breast enlargement in London and I quit my course.
‘My new boobs made me feel a million times better about myself. I suddenly had loads more confidence and no longer
‘I had loads more
confidence’
felt insecure about the way I looked. It made me even more sure of my decision to use the money to invest in my body instead of my brain.’
Miss Byrne said she had been ‘shocked’ when she got on to the university course, but ‘ knew exactly’ what to spend the money on. After failing to submit any work or take any exams, she received a letter from the university, informing her she had failed her first year. She said: ‘It said I could apply to redo my first year and I knew exactly what that meant – more money.
‘I went to my tutor and told her a story about being overwhelmed in my first year. She believed me and I signed up to redo the first year again.
‘This meant I could apply for another year of loans and within weeks I was approved for another £7,000.’ She blew the cash on more cosmetic procedures and also got a boyfriend to pay for a further breast enlargement – taking her to an H-cup bra size. ‘My boob job has done more for my career than any degree could,’ she said.
The loans have left the model with a debt which comes to £17,572, including interest. She applied for her loan in 2008 – before changes to the student finance system and increased tuition fees were introduced in 2012.
Student loans begin to be paid back as soon as the recipient starts earning more than £17,335 but are written off after 25 years if the person does not reach this threshold. Miss Byrne does not believe she will earn enough from modelling to ever pay the loans back.
The University of East London declined to comment yesterday.