9:25am Friday 19th March 2010
ENGLAND'S student loans and grants system is at "substantial" risk of being hit by delays again this year, a damning report has warned.
The beleaguered Student Loans Company is expected to deal with twice as many applications this year, but there is no proof it can deal with demand, according to the National Audit Office.
Tens of thousands of students faced delays to their grants and loans payments last autumn after the SLC struggled to keep up.
The NAO's report on the fiasco found less than half of applications (46 per cent) were fully processed by the start of the academic term last year, compared to 63 per cent in 2008. Applications had been arriving more quickly than the SLC was able to process them, and by September 6 there were 241,000 that were not fully processed.
With the start of term approaching, the report found, calls from students chasing their applications soared, with four million made to the SLC last September. Despite having a target of no more than 14 per cent of calls being abandoned, a massive 87 per cent were left unanswered in this month.
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