EU graduates owe £43m

FOREIGN students are a growing problem for the Student Loans Company, which struggles to collect payments when they return home later.

Graduates based in Britain have repayments deducted from their pay slips, but there is no equivalent mechanism for those who move abroad.

This has enabled students from the EU, who are automatically entitled to a student loan, to dodge making repayments when they leave the UK.

Last month, figures revealed how European students are a record £43million in arrears – the amount doubling in two years. One in eight students who have returned abroad are failing to repay the loans, and experts say the figure will soar when unlimited numbers are allowed to study in England from September.