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Overseas Students: Student Wastage

Asked by Mr Peter BedfordConservativeDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 10 April 2026UIN 121568

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many foreign nationals claiming student loan or a maintenance loan dropped out of their courses in the last academic year for which data is available.

Answered by Josh MacAlister

The number of student loan borrowers who are not UK Nationals and withdrew from their latest recorded course in 2024/25 was 15,000 (to the nearest 500).

The department and the Student Loans Company have strengthened the quality and consistency of data in this area and now hold reliable information on borrowers’ UK national status and nationality.

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