The official site of the Prime Minister’s Office

More details from petition creator

SDLP leader Mark Durkan's recently tabled motion in Westminster to increase from £15,000 to £18,000 the salary at which students begin to repay their student loans will be welcomed by the vast majority of students and graduates in Northern Ireland and in Britain.

Since the new system for student funding was introduced by New Labour in 2006, there have been several disproportionate hikes in tuition fees, allegedly down to inflation. Now that inflation is lower, it is unfair that this is not reflected in students' loan statements.

Graduates currently start paying back their loans when they earn over £15,000 per year. In 3 year's time, £15,000 will be a much lower salary in real terms. Therefore, why does does this threshold remain constant? If the system is not changed, graduates will struggle under the weight of the loan, paying more with each year of study while they earn a lower salary.

This could come to the point where it is no longer worth taking out a student loan to go to university, leaving many able young people unable to achieve their potential.

Current signatories

Michael Rafferty, the Petition Creator, joined by:

• Julia Lightfoot(petitions.number10.gov.uk/quackery)
• Travis Rothschild
• Michael Kielty
• Jennifer Elsdon
• David Parker
• David John Austin
• Rachel Bogues
• Hayley Mathers
• Peter Armstrong
• Liam McNulty
• Nicole Moore
• Gina Keenan
• Sarah Hollingsworth
• Andrew Hart
• Eben Marks
• Sara Brennan
• Liam Voice
• Ronan McCay
• Michael Douglas
• Clare Morrison
• Barry Magee
• Darren Finnegan
• Kevin Feeney
• Gareth McGreevy
• John Talbot
• Liam McNally
• Abdullah Rhodes-Taylor
• Geoffrey Clare
• Chloe Murphy
• Brenda Stevenson
• Adrian Kelly
• Katie Morgan NUS-USI President
• Jonathan O'Neill
• Dominic Doherty
• Adam McGibbon
• Ashleigh Simpson
• Ryan Hamilton-Bryce
• Michael Moore
• Chloe Wilson
• Conor Heath
• Catherine Woods
• Benjamin Ewan
• Eamon McAuley
• Robert Drumm
• Daniela Vogt
• Kelly Smith
• bernadette o hagan
• colin oliver
• Josephine Anne Brennan
• alison holland
• P A Larsen
• Marie Egerton
• Peter Quinn
• Emma Bell
• SG
• Rebecca Myers
• Adam Casey
• Paula Waby
• Laura Gilmore
• Glenn Richardson