logo
No immediate plans to change ‘unfair' student loan interest, education secretary admits

No immediate plans to change ‘unfair' student loan interest, education secretary admits

Independent2 days ago
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said on Thursday, 11 August, that there are 'no immediate plans' to change interest levels on student loan repayments.
BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt asked Ms Phillipson whether it was fair to make students pay 9 per cent interest on top of existing student loan debt.
'We are looking at the student finance system; it is complicated,' the education secretary said. 'However, I do think that it is right that students make a contribution to their education.'
She reiterated that there were more opportunities for young people receiving their A-level results on Thursday to pursue other than university, including apprenticeships.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lidl to sell Thermomix dupe on the middle aisle that is £1,050 cheaper than the original
Lidl to sell Thermomix dupe on the middle aisle that is £1,050 cheaper than the original

The Sun

time21 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Lidl to sell Thermomix dupe on the middle aisle that is £1,050 cheaper than the original

LIDL will be selling a Thermomix dupe that is significantly cheaper than the original. Savings of more than £1,000 can be made with this middle aisle purchase from the discount retailer. 3 Lidl is about to sell a dupe of the Thermomix worth £1,349 for just £299 for Lidl Plus customers. Called the Monsieur Cuisine Smart, this exciting kitchen appliance will be in stores from Thursday, September 4. It is a multi-functional device that can be used for everything you need, from food processing, cooking, searing, steaming, kneading, blending, and stirring. There are even programming options available for it to chop, shred, grind, pure or emulsify ingredients. You can therefore make anything from soups, sauces, or vegetable, meat or noodle dishes. The smart device has WiFi functions that provides free monthly recipe updates with a registered user account, along with over 600 pre-installed recipes with step-by-step instructions through its cooking pilot. There is also guided video cooking for selected recipes, that can be played on its fast-reacting 8-inch display screen. On top of that, there is voice control capabilities that can be activated via Google Assistant. Kitchen scales have been integrated into the device to enable weighing of ingredients that have been placed directly into the pot. With 1000W power, up to 1kg of dough can be processes, through 10 speed settings including turbo function for pulse blending. I'm a thrifty cook - I avoid oven costs by making a whole roast chicken dinner in my slow cooker Kneading dough or stirring soups and stews can be carried out in the anti-clockwise motion the Monsieur Cuisine provides. Furthermore, its facilitates precise cooking with temperatures from 37-130C that can be set in five degree increments. There is also a 99 minute timer. All the accessories are dishwasher safe, including the 4.5L stainless steel blender jug and various attachments that include a steamer, blade, and mixer. The product is exclusively available for Lidl Plus customers to reserve from August 21 to 25 on the Lidl Plus App. Regular customers can then purchase the Monsieur Cuisine once they are available in store next month. Lidl's version of the Thermomix seems to come with many functionalities of the original, at a much more affordable price. This deal comes after Lidl was also found selling another kitchen appliance that can be used for baking at a price £400 cheaper than others. It was their Silvercrest Kitchen Tools Stand Mixer, that was sold for only £49.99. The budget-friendly retailer also had XL dual view air fryer available for just £79.99 this summer. Lidl's 15L Salter air fryer was half the price of Curry's version, with six cooking functions and a sleek LED display. How to compare prices to get the best deal JUST because something is on offer, or is part of a sale, it doesn't mean it's always a good deal. There are plenty of comparison websites out there that'll check prices for you - so don't be left paying more than you have to. Most of them work by comparing the prices across hundreds of retailers. Here are some that we recommend: Google Shopping is a tool that lets users search for and compare prices for products across the web. Simply type in keywords, or a product number, to bring up search results. Price Spy logs the history of how much something costs from over 3,000 different retailers, including Argos, Amazon, eBay and the supermarkets. Once you select an individual product you can quickly compare which stores have the best price and which have it in stock. Idealo is another website that lets you compare prices between retailers. All shoppers need to do is search for the item they need and the website will rank them from the cheapest to the most expensive one. CamelCamelCamel only works on goods being sold on Amazon. To use it, type in the URL of the product you want to check the price of. 3

Foreign holdings of US Treasuries climb to record $9.13 trillion in June
Foreign holdings of US Treasuries climb to record $9.13 trillion in June

Reuters

timean hour ago

  • Reuters

Foreign holdings of US Treasuries climb to record $9.13 trillion in June

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries rose to record levels in June, topping $9 trillion for a fourth straight month, data from the Treasury Department showed on Friday. Holdings of U.S. Treasuries climbed to $9.13 trillion in June, up from $9.05 trillion in May. Compared with a year earlier, Treasuries owned by foreigners were up nearly $1 trillion, or 10% higher. However, on a transaction basis, the U.S. experienced outflows of $5 billion after buying roughly $147 billion in Treasuries in May, the largest since August 2022. In April, there was an outflow of $40.8 billion as President Donald Trump's back-and-forth tariff policies roiled markets. Japan remained the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries, with a record $1.147 trillion in June, up $12.6 billion from the previous month's $1.134 trillion. UK investors, the second-largest owner of U.S. government debt, raised their pool of Treasuries to another record of$858.1 billion, up 0.6% from $809.4 billion in May. The UK overtook China as the second-largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries in March. The UK is widely viewed as a custody country, generally a proxy for hedge fund investments. Other countries used by hedge funds for custody services include the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. Treasury holdings of China, the third-largest owner of U.S. government debt, were little changed at$756.4 billion, compared with $756.3 billion in May, which was the lowest since February 2009 when the country's stock of Treasuries dropped to$744.2 billion. China's holdings were way below their largest level of more than $1.3 trillion held between 2012 and 2016. China, the world's second-largest economy, has been gradually dumping Treasuries to bolster its currency, the yuan. Analysts said a slowing Chinese economy, post-COVID challenges, and trade barriers have diminished China's inflows from exports. Data also showed that other foreign investors in Asia like Hong Kong and India reduced their cache of Treasuries to $242.6 billion and $227.4 billion, respectively. Foreign investors, meanwhile, also poured back into U.S. equities, injecting inflows of $163.1 billion in June that followed $115.8 billion in purchases in May. Data also showed that the net capital inflow into the United States totaled just $77.8 billion, down 75% from the revised$318.1 billion in May, which was the largest since September 2024.

Brain drain: Top universities are hoovering up more students, sparking fears lower-ranked colleges may have to merge to survive
Brain drain: Top universities are hoovering up more students, sparking fears lower-ranked colleges may have to merge to survive

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Brain drain: Top universities are hoovering up more students, sparking fears lower-ranked colleges may have to merge to survive

Elite universities have hoovered up a larger share of students this year, putting lower-ranked institutions at risk of mergers, data suggests. New analysis by Times Higher Education shows that the top third of universities recruited two-fifths of school-leavers, leaving fewer for the others. These top establishments – mainly made up of the Russell Group – were looking to fill spaces left by a dip in international students. However, if the trend continues, the lower-prestige institutions will become unviable due to lack of numbers, experts warn. Bob Savill, head of student recruitment at the University of Chichester, told THE: 'For the rest of the sector, it's going to be very challenging and... one would imagine we'll see mergers, and so on, in the coming year.' Analysis of Ucas data released on A-level results day show 'higher-tariff' universities – those ranked in the top third for how demanding their entry requirements are – took a disproportionate share of the students this year. Of the total 255,130 UK 18-year-olds accepted on to degree courses, they took 41 per cent. This left 'medium-tariff' ones with 32 per cent of the share and 'lower-tariff' ones with just 27 per cent. The share taken by the top universities is a rise from 40 per cent last year and 37 per cent in 2023. Mark Corver, former managing director of dataHE, said: 'It will widen the effective resourcing gap between universities and mean things are not going to get any easier for lower-tariff [institutions].' The situation has been partly enabled by a rise in top grades, meaning more pupils hit the entry requirements for top universities. Overall, 28.3 per cent of entries got A/A* this year, compared with 27.8 per cent last year, and 25.4 per cent in 2019. Bar the Covid years of 2020-2022, when grades were vastly inflated due to teacher assessment when exams were cancelled, this is the highest proportion on record. The scramble for students has been caused by an overall drop in lucrative international applicants, after a change in visa rules. It meant three quarters of Russell Group universities entered clearing this year, including Durham, Bristol and King's College London. Between them, they had 3,492 courses available – 13 per cent of the 26,000 courses on offer across all universities. The Russell Group was contacted for comment. It comes as a report for Buckingham University found boys were 'chronically underperforming' at GCSE level, with results out on Thursday. Last year, 24.7 per cent of female entries achieved at least a grade 7 (the old A) – compared with 19 per cent of male entries.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store