the student loans company is a governmentowned agency that was established in and is responsible for managing all loans and grants to students in universities and colleges in the united kingdom in recent years the united kingdom has shifted away from grants and towards incomecontingent loans for students primarily due to their lower public cost figure relative to grants loans may also make students more responsive to market signals in their degree selection as most students must eventually repay the money unlike with grants in the government announced it would end grants for students from lowincome households but would raise total financial support via incomecontingent loans