The Student Loans Company’s rates change in September based on March’s RPI; if next month’s figure drops from the current 0% and goes negative, those who started uni pre-1998 – currently paying 3.8% – will see their loan SHRINK.
Yet the govt. hasn’t confirmed if the same’ll happen for post-1998 student loans: these rely on both inflation and are also linked to interest rates, and therefore have already dropped to 1.5% (full explanation: student loan repaying guide).
I wonder if this delay is a wait and see what the RPI for March is before it decides. Perhaps if in March RPI is -0.1% or 0.2% it will confirm that post 1998 university starters (who form the majority) will also see their loans shrink – that’s great PR to start with. Yet if RPI is -3.0% the cost will be too high and it will change the system, or argue it should match interest rates.