Cambridge’s MP Daniel Zeichner has today quizzed George Osborne, standing in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions, as to why "many students will [now] bear many extra thousands of pounds in repayments" as a result of changes to student loans.

This refers to the plan, announced in the Autumn Statement, to freeze the repayment threshold for tuition fees at £21,000, whereas previously it was to rise yearly in line with the student's annual wage.

This change to student contracts will mean that students in the future will repay their loans at a lower level of income than had been expected.

It has been estimated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that the average graduate will be £3000 worse off, with those from disadvantaged backgrounds losing closer to £6000.

The Autumn Statement also contains cuts to ‘student opportunity funds’ which are “key to supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds”, according to Open University Vice-Chancellor Peter Horrocks.

The Cambridge MP asked Osborne that given the planned freeze and the fact that the Chancellor "has broken his promise", would “he be sending them an apology, or just the bill?”

Osborne responded by saying that "there seems to be a collective amnesia on the other side that they introduced tuition fees." 

He continued by saying that the government had increased the threshold to £21,000, up from £15,000 under the previous Labour government. 

"That enables us to fund the lifting of the cap so that more people who are qualified can go to university," the Chancellor continued.

Osborne added that he "would have hoped that on this day, [Zeichner] would also welcome the big investment we’re making into Cambridge, not least the renovation of the famous Cavendish laboratory." 

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has defended the government's changes by arguing that they will bring about a 30 per cent reduction in unpaid loans and that repayments will increase by £3bn.  

Zeichner issued a statement on the changes, saying that “students took out loans on the basis of an agreed repayment contract”, and that this contract had been “torn-up and retrospectively rewritten” by the government.

“It wouldn't be acceptable to do this in the business world. This is a betrayal by the government."

However, Zeichner has also criticised the government in the past for the number of expected unpaid student loans under the system.

When Varsity asked Zeichner whether his criticisms of the government have been inconsistent, he said that "Labour warned before the election that the system for funding higher education introduced by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives was unsustainable - now they have admitted that we were right."

He added that Labour would have cut fees to £6000 to decrease defaults and the burden on students, funded by "cutting tax relief on pensions for wealthy people".

Zeichner said this was "just a further example of how young people are being hit - and there is no guarantee that the government won't come back for more." 

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, said the changes were “an absolute disgrace” and were risking “fundamentally threatening any trust people have in the student finance system.”

He added that the changes break the “fundamental bond of politics that you do not impose retrospective changes.”

“This was snuck in the back door.”

The Sutton Trust has been equally critical of the changes, saying that it created “uncertainty” and “forces” students to write an “‘open cheque’”.

“This may discourage participation or distort decisions as to where, what and how to study.”