Reform UK has announced plans to ban foreign nationals from accessing taxpayer-funded student loans, describing the current system as a “foreign student ponzi scheme” that has cost the British public more than £4 billion a year.
Nigel Farage’s party says up to 300,000 foreign nationals living in the UK are currently drawing on student loans annually, with the cost to taxpayers having risen by 40 per cent in recent years — up from £3.2 billion in 2021-22. Under Reform’s proposals, maintenance loans, grants and all Student Loans Company funding would be restricted to British nationals only, with foreign nationals expected to fund their own studies in the vast majority of circumstances.
The party claims the policy would save approximately £2 billion each year, with those savings redirected to create what it describes as “a ladder of opportunity for British young people.”
Suella Braverman, Reform’s education spokesman, said the existing system had allowed universities to prioritise immigration over education. “Too many of our universities are selling immigration, not education,” she said. “The university system has prioritised mass immigration and low standards over quality and the national interest, and too many universities have become little more than visa factories.” She added: “If you want to study, live and work in Britain, you should do so because you bring high-skill and real value, not because you’ve picked up a third-rate degree from a low ranked university as a back door to settlement in Britain.”
Under existing rules, non-British students can borrow tens of thousands of pounds if they hold settled status and have lived in the UK for at least three years before starting university. Student loans are written off after 30 years for those who began university before 2023, or 40 years for those who started after that date — meaning a significant proportion of the money lent is never recovered. Official projections show that just over half of all undergraduate loans are expected to be repaid in full. EU students currently owe more than £5 billion in outstanding loans.
Reform also said that ending home fee status for people living in the UK with EU Settled Status would form part of its renegotiation of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.
The announcement is the latest in a series of immigration-focused policies from Reform ahead of the local elections, as the party continues to build its pre-election platform targeting what it characterises as a broken and exploited public funding system.
