Romanians allegedly involved in defrauding UK student loan system
Romanians are reportedly among those suspected of a massive fraud of the student loan system in the United Kingdom, according to an investigation by The Sunday Times published on Sunday, March 23.
The fraud was straightforward. The would-be students reportedly enrolled in universities without the intention of attending classes, solely to obtain loans they have no intention of repaying.
Many of the loan contracts have been taken out by individuals identifying as Romanian citizens, although identity theft might also be involved. The alleged fraud, according to the report, could amount to hundreds of millions of pounds.
Importantly, the investigation did not specifically target Romanian students but rather the “for-profit” education system, through which several UK universities have outsourced services to a number of so-called franchised universities. The Sunday Times investigation identified at least six franchised providers involved in fraudulent schemes after analyzing confidential financial documents and interviewing multiple sources from the Student Loans Company (SLC), the Department for Education (DfE), and the Office for Students (OfS).
Franchised colleges are accused of enrolling students who do not speak English adequately or accepting screenshots of Duolingo tests as proof of language proficiency. At some universities with franchised providers, between 35% and 55% of applicants last year were Romanian.
The Sunday Times notes that the loan requests and the enrollments are conducted entirely online, and are hardly ever verified.
In reply to the revelations, officials from the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday, March 24, that they had not received any request from British authorities, nor any consular assistance requests from any Romanian in the United Kingdom.
Nevertheless, UK Government figures reveal an alarming increase in the number of Romanian citizens applying for student loans, rising from 5,000 in 2015-16 to 84,000 in 2023-24. This suggests that 15% of the Romanian population in the UK received a student loan last year. In the current academic year, 71,000 Romanians have applied for student loans, compared to 19,000 Polish citizens, 16,000 Italians, and 12,000 Portuguese.
The UK’s Public Sector Fraud Authority has already begun an investigation in the matter.
(Photo source: Chormail | Dreamstime.com)
