Foreign nationals would be unable to access student loans under a Reform UK government, the party has announced. 

Currently, prospective students who have settled status in the UK and have lived in Britain for at least three years before they start university are eligible to access government-backed student finance.

But Suella Braverman, Reform’s education spokesperson, has said the party would no longer allow this if elected. 

It follows new figures released by the government in response to freedom of information requests that show foreign nationals borrowed over £4 billion in student loans in 2024-25, up from £3.24 billion in 2021-22. 

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on 30 April, Braverman claimed “billions of pounds are never repaid”.

“The truth is that too many universities are selling immigration, not education,” she wrote, adding that the system was “rigged against British students who are forced to the back of their own queue”. 

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She said the party would also end the “preferential treatment” of overseas students, alleging that some universities offer lower entry requirements to these students. 

The current Labour government has attempted to crack down on student loan abuse within the franchise sector, after fresh evidence emerged last year suggesting some students, including foreign nationals, were enrolling on higher education courses to access maintenance loans and then failing to show up. 

In April, Braverman also questioned government ministers about the level of “foreign students claiming fraudulent student loans”, which she claimed was at a “record high”.

“That is making a mockery of the student finance system and costing the British taxpayer millions of pounds which could otherwise be diverted to support British students.”

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Josh MacAlister, minister for children and families, responded that the government takes the issue “extremely seriously” but said it was a result of Braverman’s “own legacy in government as a Conservative politician”. 

“Nowhere in her question was an apology for the appalling track record of creating the Plan 2 student loans system in the first place and administering it in a way that has led to the results that she describes,” he said. 

When Braverman became education spokesperson for Reform in February this year, she criticised universities for “failing our young people” and noted that UK graduates hold, on average, £50,000 of student debt.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com