The government has announced in the budget bill for 2022 that the interest rate on student loans should be reformed and that the government intends to return in the budget bill for 2023 with a proposal for a reformed model for the interest rate on student loans in light of the introduction of a new adjustment study support from 2023.
SFS supports the new transition study support that is being introduced, but takes the risk of displacement effects for other students very seriously. With a changed interest rate model for student loans, the interest rate will increase.
The fact that more individuals have the opportunity to study in the middle of their lives to strengthen their position in the labor market is of course fundamentally positive. In addition to the benefits for society and the individual this entails, we believe that it also provides opportunities for a broadened recruitment to higher education where people who would not have studied without the transition study support now have that opportunity. It is with this potential broadened recruitment in mind, among other things, that it is crucial that the transition study support is not introduced at the expense of other student groups.
In our consultation response to the government, we show how the new proposal will not at all guarantee reduced spending for the state, how higher interest rates on student loans make borrowers more sensitive to socio-economic developments, and how the proposal goes against central parts of the fundamental purposes of the student finance system. The government's proposal came in the fall of 2021, in a different economic situation. How would the interest rate on student loans be affected in an even worse situation? We discuss this and much more in our consultation response.