22,000 UK Students Given Reprieve on Erroneous Maintenance Loan Repayments

Around 22,000 UK university students who were told to urgently repay maintenance loans and childcare grants given in error have been granted a reprieve. The government announced loans will be repaid through standard student finance routes, with grant repayments paused until at least September. The controversy arose after students on weekend courses were told their programmes should have been classified as distance learning, making them ineligible for student finance. Nine universities had begun legal action over the "abrupt" decision affecting predominantly mature, low-income students.