BM 62 – Support on repayment of student loans for parents and public sector workers in Estonia
European Students` Union calls upon the Estonian Parliament to deal with the issue of student loan repayments in Estonia. The issue is further explained below.
ESU is deeply concerned by the injustice caused by a law adopted in Estonia almost three years ago, on the 19th of June 2009. Until then the state had promised to erase the loan debt (in Estonia the students take a loan from a bank and no loans are provided by the state directly) of those students who either become parents during their studies or start working in the public sector after graduating (that includes teachers, for example). In 2009, on the mentioned date, the parliament decided to change the law and not erase (compensate) any student loans – not only to those taking a loan after this date but also to those who had already taken it before in a belief that the debt will be erased by the state. The law came into force already on the 1st of July the same year, leaving only a two-week period for people to become aware of the changes. In addition, a national holiday fell into the period of those two weeks so many students and graduates were on vacation and the information never reached them.
Such a situation is a violation of legitimate expectations of the students and graduates that took a loan with a consideration of the state paying it back later. Hundreds of students and graduates have turned to EÜL for help and EÜL has taken several of those cases to court, winning one. At the moment the bill with a proposition of continuing the repayment of loans to those who took a loan before the 19th of June 2009 is still in the parliament but is not being discussed.
EÜL has pressured the parliament and is now asking for your support to show that such injustice is condemned also on an international level. ESU insists on the Estonian parliament to start discussing the bill on reimbursement of student loans and make up for the injustice caused by repaying the loans of those students that took a loan before the 19th of June 2009 and either became parents during their studies or started working in the public sector after graduating.
