The National Union of Students (NUS) in Scotland has spoken out after the news that thousands of students will have to immediately pay back their graduate endowment charge.
Around 3,000 post-graduate students have been told by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland that they must pay back the charge of £2,289 immediately, as the government gets rid of the one-off charge for future pupils.
Now Scottish education secretary Fiona Hyslop has been urged to intervene to prevent student debt from increasing further.
The president of NUS Scotland James Alexander said: "We are extremely disappointed that a previously positive benefit for postgraduate students appears to have been removed with the introduction of this legislation," the Times reports.
A letter from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland said that outstanding loans must be settled without further deferment due to "accounting procedures".
NUS Scotland prides itself on its reputation for having a "far-reaching and radical agenda" in education policy.
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