Muslim groups are calling for a separate student loan system because the interest due to be charged will conflict with rules of Sharia law.
The changes to tuition fees, which come into force next year, will see students charged higher rates of interest on the loans they take out to pay for university. Until now they have paid the market rate of inflation but the reforms mean students who go on to earn more than £21,000 will have to pay interest of up to 3 per cent.
But in some interpretations of Sharia law, which is Islam's legal system and governs every aspect of Muslim life, loans are forbidden.
The National Union of Students has said it could be two years before an alternative system is worked out, leaving some Muslims fearing they cannot go on to further education.
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies told The Independent that the rate increase was a 'pressing issue'. A spokesman said: 'Because the rate of interest is above the rate of inflation, it is quite blatant usury.'
Mohammed Ahmed-Sheikh, 17, says the changes will discourage him from applying to university next year. 'The fees are the reason I'm having doubts. I'm Muslim and loans are against my religion,' he told The Independent.
Then get a job and save up. Really, this isn't rocket science.
Ahmad Mitoubsi, 21, who graduated this year, added: 'We've just had to adapt to the British system or else I couldn't have gone to uni.'
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills says discussions are ongoing with student groups about a solution. But it is thought an alternative, such as already happens with mortgages in which education could be 'rented' instead, may not be agreed until the 2013/14 academic year.
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Prince Harry is going to Arizona this fall to complete helicopter training, said a spokeswoman for Luke Air Force Base on Wednesday. However, it's not clear where in the state he will train.
"He's definitely not coming to Luke, but he will be in Arizona," said Capt. Carla Gleason.
The prince, recently promoted to captain, is training to pilot the Boeing Apache attack helicopter with the British Army Air Corps. Gleason confirmed that the prince is taking part in the Apache Conversion to Role course in the U.K. That course continues with Exercise Crimson Eagle in Arizona and California.
The prince's U.S. training will consist of "environmental training, live firing and tactical exercises," according to Gleason.
The British Embassy confirmed the prince will be training in the U.S. but said the British military has not given further details. A British Ministry of Defence press officer said he could not confirm the prince's plans, adding that details of his training are likely being withheld as a matter of security.
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#2
Not my first choice. Helicopter flight routes have pretty narrow corridors due to Sky Harbor, which are shared with "unconventional" aircraft heading south from Nevada to far off the coast of San Diego, which is about the only place left they can go supersonic.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Prince Harry is going to Arizona this fall to complete helicopter training, said a spokeswoman for Luke Air Force Base on Wednesday. However, it's not clear where in the state he will train.
