Lack of Interest-Free Finance Disadvantages Nearly 10,000 Students Per Year in the UK

Owing to a lack of provision and Alternative Student Finance (ASF), about 10,000 students every year in the United Kingdom (UK) either forego education or are compelled to self-pay, according to preliminary findings from a recent Muslim Census survey.

Why it Matters?

Students of the Muslim faith due to scriptural reasons do not take interest-bearing loans, thus not accessing conventional student finance. The former UK Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013 was to establish a scheme for students to finance their university tuition fees and living expenses, interest-free. However, this scheme remains unimplemented; as such, 1 in 10 qualifying Muslim students do not enter University education, the survey noted. According to a statistic issued in 2017/18 by Adv...