Progressive Party MP Vigdís Hauksdóttir believes it is “not unnatural” to place extra charges on the student loans of those Icelanders who study abroad but remain overseas.
DV reports that Vigdís posed a question to Minister of Education Illugi Gunnarsson asking whether it would be right to place a condition on student loans, whereby those students who study abroad but do not come back to Iceland to seek work would be charged a higher rate of interest on their student loans.
Vigdís raised the question due to her concern that far too many Icelanders – in particular, medical students – remain abroad after finishing their studies. She expressed the desire to bring these Icelanders back home.
“It is not unnatural that those who don’t come back home at the end of their studies have to pay some kind of charge,” she said.
Þorbjörn Jónsson, chairperson of the Icelandic Society of Doctors, told Vísir that he did not support the idea.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “I think this could have a negative effect on whether a student seeks to study abroad in the first place, for example for a masters or doctorate degree. I think we can look at it like this: the parents of these young people have paid taxes and debts, and this is something that they have contributed to society for the sake of their children.”
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