The impact of the current student loans regime on Muslim student engagement and retention in English higher education

Abstract

There is much interest in the potential for an alternative funding system for higher education students in England to support the spiritual and worldly needs of British Muslim students. At the heart of this issue lies a tension over whether the student financing system in English HE is haram, or forbidden under Islamic (Shari'ah) law, because it prohibits engagement with activities that are governed by interest-bearing engagement with money (classified as riba). Such interest-bearing activities are seen as unjust and as a form of exploitation, although there are diverging legal and scholarly rulings or interpretations (issued through fatwa) on the issue. As a result, tensions are revealed through the student experience between Islam as a deeply spiritual, faith-based way of life (known as deen) and the reality that this way of life is lived, materially, in a worldly existence (known as dunya). This article engages with this tension in relation to issues of retention in one English university in the 2023/24 academic session. Focusing on in-depth interviews with 12 British Muslim undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, the argument highlights how these struggles shaped complex ways in which individuals both engage with student finance and realise their spiritual intentions. The argument situates intentionality against retention, shaped by deep layers of faith, commitment, drive and hope for the future. These are also moulded with family and in community, and reiterate a desire for institutional and sector leaders to recognise their struggle for recognition and for an alternative finance system that respects faith-based identities.