Living costs :(

I am trying to apply for student loan and I find out this : "Most EU full-time students don’t qualify for help with living costs (known as ‘maintenance’)." Is this something new?

No it's been that way for years, you have to live in the U.K. for 5 years before you can have a living cost loan

I think it is been 3 years, no 5 years.

This is accurate and I think it's fair -you don't live here to be fair

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It's a loan.

Should we start to give loans to US and CA citizens, just because it's a loan? The money has to come from somewhere upfront, that being the British taxpayer. It will take ages to pay back and there's no guarantee it will ever be paid back at all. We are rightly strict on who we give loans to.

A loan implies interest which implies return. Investing in such mediums are beneficial in the long-term as long as there are legal codes to protect both parties (and there are).

A loan implies interest which implies return. Investing in such mediums are beneficial in the long-term as long as there are legal codes to protect both parties (and there are).

In finance you should always compare money in the future with money today taking into account inflation and interest rates. I don't think the returns on a student loan provided by the state are as high as per market.

So let's give loans to everyone we clap eyes on, they're all bound to have the means to pay them back and they will all certainly earn over the repayment threshold every year for the rest of their lives.

That's not the point you were making. You're suggesting that nationality and solvency are related.

I'm suggesting that it's a nation's best financial interests to have criteria about who they give money upfront to, such as restricting it to people who actually live there. I wouldn't expect to walk into New York and get a loan, I'm not a citizen.

Residents do not need to be nationals of the nation. Which criterion do you want to impose and why? Do you have evidence to suggest either one will work?

Until you become the head of Student Finance, this is how it will be. They don't care about whatever system you think would work better.

This is not the point being debated.

You were talking about interest. The fact that there is a nominal return on taxpayer's investment (giving a loan) doesn't mean per se that it's a convenient way to spend the money for the state.