STUDENTS are “bearing the brunt” of government and university disputes, the National Union of Students (NUS) warned today as nine institutions began legal action after they were asked to repay loans immediately.

About 22,000 students in England were sent letters from the Student Loans Company (SLC), saying they received maintenance loans and childcare grants in error and must immediately pay the money back.

The students are all studying weekend courses, which have been reclassified as distance learning and some are just weeks away from completing three-year degrees.

Nine of the more than 20 universities involved have begun legal action against the government to challenge that decision, with just Bath Spa, Southampton Solent and London Metropolitan putting their names in publicly.

Bath Spa University vice-chancellor Professor Georgina Andrews said the universities had acted in “good faith” and the sudden decision “punished those who are the most vulnerable in our society who are trying to better their lives through education.”

The universities said they “strongly reject” that in-person, timetabled weekend teaching is “distance learning.”

NUS vice-president Alex Stanley said: “Students are bearing the brunt of failed communications between the Student Loans Company and their universities.

“These students are investing in their futures by studying each weekend, alongside caring or work.

“Regardless of where any blame lies, the immediate solution would be for the Secretary of State to use the discretion she has in the regulations and stop the immediate clawback of these students’ payments so that they are not plunged into poverty.

“She has an opportunity here to stand by the promises made by this government to ensure opportunities for all.”

The government has argued that universities have either failed to pay attention to regulations or that there were “abuses” of the system.

University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady said: “Despite following all the rules, these students are being financially punished for taking weekend courses that allow them to fit in caring and work responsibilities. The Secretary of State for Education urgently needs to halt these unfair clawbacks so no student faces financial pain. 

“This case also highlights the wider issues with the student loan system; education should be publicly funded so everyone can study free from the burden of decades of debt.”