§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the criteria upon which a student is judged before being able to obtain a loan.
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§ Mr. Alan HowarthThe conditions for eligibility are laid down in the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1991, SI 1991/1299, and set out in a booklet entitled "Student Grants and Loans" published jointly by my Department and the Welsh Office. The main criteria relate to the student's course, age and residence status. In general, students taking full-time courses of higher education below post-graduate level which last at least one academic year will be eligible for a loan, if they are aged less than 50 when the course begins and have been ordinarily resident in the British islands for the three years before the start of the course. Applicants must also hold a bank or building society account capable of handling direct credits and debits; must not be in default on repayments on a previous loan under the Government's loans scheme; and must enter into a loan agreement by 31 July in the relevant academic year.