THE NEW DAILY CROISSANT · Stephen Faragher

THE NEW DAILY CROISSANT 09 04 26

April 9, 2026·1 hr 55 min·10 clips

Ed Chamberlain's heart races at 100 mph just 30 seconds before going live on ITV for the Grand National.

The mood turns sharp fast. What starts as loose chat becomes a worried look at students told to repay loans after course eligibility was questioned. Nobody sounds convinced. The hosts keep coming back to the same point: why should students chase and pay for an error they did not make? It feels unfair, because it is. Some blame lands on how hard it is to get any politician to put a hand up and admit a mistake. Then the figures come in. A handful get a reprieve from the Department for Education, tied to undergraduate healthcare related courses with weekend teaching and clinic days. That does not fix the mess. The excerpt says some final exam students had been asked to find immediate lump sums, while one unnamed woman broke down under the uncertainty. Her number is grim. She faced a £37,000 demand, did not want to be named, and said the stress was making her ill. Others are stuck too. Almost 22,000 students are still trying to work out how they could repay £10,000. Mid-April is the pressure point. The NUS says many have a university deadline to decide whether they can stay on their course. The fixes sound patchy. Some universities are trying to add weekday teaching or move students onto similar courses so future loans remain possible. Past loans still sit there. The worry is the money already taken out, because the clarification does not remove the expectation that students repay it. Then radio life carries on. After the heavy story, the show drifts back to listings, Aintree well-wishes, Alan's goodbye, and a Joe play-out.

As heard by us

A grounded community-radio episode where student finance, station business and an untidy sign-off share the same mic.

The New Daily Croissant works best as community radio in motion: part student-finance report, part station bulletin, part handoff to the next show.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get worried students, Liverpool community-radio warmth, and a wonderfully untidy goodbye.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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