On it’s October 19th meeting, the Student Council of UI agreed to send a memorandum to the ministry of Higher education, Science and Innovation as well as the ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. The memorandum’s occasion was the upcoming revision of laws 60/2020 on the Icelandic Student Loan Fund. Public support for students is currently inadequate, as 70% of Icelandic students work during term time, thereof 72% because otherwise they could not afford to study.

As stated in the memorandum, “The government must face the fact that this is a proof of an underfinanced student loan system […]. The more beneficial the student loans, the more likely is the group that works “too much” to focus better on their studies. The Icelandic government seems unaware of this.”

“For decades, the Student Council of the University of Iceland has pointed out that public support to students is far too little, even if it can be expected to pay itself back many times over, due to the impact of wage taxes alone. This is the fundamental problem of the student loans system in Iceland and no optimization or transfer of funding will solve it.”

The memorandum can be found here.