Statistics show that the average student in 2001 incurred an average debt of £5,900 and this is estimated to almost double to £9,100 for the year 2002.

* The aim of the SDRS (student debt reduction scheme) is to cut student debts by up to 50%

* STUDENTS – gain up to 25% CASH discount from lots of new businesses and services

* FAMILY & FRIENDS – create a savings account for you from discounts gained from their purchases. You can have as many family members & friends etc as you want holding an SDRS card on your behalf

* SPONSORS – supermarkets, high street stores, car manufacturers, Airlines & other services

* GOVERNMENT – we are lobbying the Government to collectively match the savings to be held by each College & University and redistribute the wealth fairly amongst all students

The SDRS has been gaining a huge amount of support from all sectors and has now gone above the DfES to the PM’s Education Advisor in Downing Street.
We have also started an online petition to take to No.10 to help us gain this Government backing.

The SDRS is politically correct and a WIN WIN for all parties involved.
With the SDRS, students are not obliged to purchase anything from any of the participating businesses but if they do they receive an instant discount. When family members and friends, who do have a much greater spending power buy a holiday, new car, clothing, electrical goods, their weekly shopping etc their discounts are transferred to the student's debt reduction account. The student can't touch these savings, which are also gaining a standard interest rate, until their studies have finished and when they have, they can either set these off against any loans (wherever the money has been borrowed from) or continue with the card. The student can have as many SDRS card holders supporting them as they wish.
 
The businesses increase their customer base, the students gain instant discounts from lots of new businesses and gain a savings account funded by their family and friends, family and friends are helping out their student from their everyday purchases, the Banks & Building Societies gain thousand of extra savings accounts and the Government have a way of helping the current student funding crisis.
 
SDRS Pilot
This November sees the launch of a pilot SDRS with help from students at colleges and Universities across the UK.

For more information about the SDRS, the pilot and how you can be involved you can:
* Email SDRS@thestudentzone.com
* Tel     01271 344738

To sign the online petition go to the studentzone.com website

We will also be taking your letters with us to No.10 – these can be sent to SDRS, 2nd Floor, 4 The High Street, Barnstaple, EX31 1BG
Or faxed to 01271 345219

Be part of this innovative project and make a difference!

More information:

The SDRS (Student Debt Reduction Scheme) has been designed to relieve the pressure of debt within the student community throughout the UK.  Our aim is to reduce the average debt by up to 50% and would give the student a better start in their working career. 

Throughout our research we have gained considerable interest from both Local and National businesses within various sectors: finance houses, high street banks, the government, supermarkets, record stores, large high street retailers, car manufacturers, airlines, tour operators, pubs & clubs, petrol companies, and other related businesses, who are now interested in being involved in a pilot scheme to be launched this September.

All involved companies will offer a discount or points via the SDRS loyalty scheme. This will depend on the goods or services sold to holders of the SDRC (Student Debt Reduction Card). The student card holders will receive an instant cash discount however the family & friend cardholders will have the discount calculated and it will be transferred to their student’s SDRS savings account.  On completion of the students’ education the amount held in the SDRS account will then be used to pay off against the Student Loan, Bank or Parents.

We encourage both corporate businesses as well as smaller local businesses to get involved with this scheme.  Each business will offer a discount to all holders of the SDRC.  The more businesses that participate with the SDRS will be invaluable in reducing student debt for the future. This will also increase the volume of students and their families using these businesses.

The student zone is currently talking to many of its customers about this discount, with very favourable results and has agreed to work in conjunction with any existing scheme that they may already have in place.
The SDRS is designed to be a community project that will assist both the students and their financiers, whether that is from a student loan or, as is more usually the case, the parents who have to struggle to see their children further their education.  With this project in place we will also see an increase in the number of students wishing to continue their studies but before were unable, due to the worries of the financial strain on themselves and their families. 

STUDENT DEBT REDUCTION CARD - (SDRC)
Each Student of further and higher education will hold a Student Debt Reduction Scheme loyalty card (SDRC), more importantly so will members of their family and any friends that wish to help support the student, therefore increasing the opportunity to reduce the student debt.
The student – will receive an instant cash discount by using their card when making purchases at related businesses.
The family & friends – will have the buying power and the SDRC will be either a swipe or reward card which will be linked to the Students SDRS Account and on a monthly basis the points will be converted into money and transferred from the 3rd party involved to the student Account.
The card will act the complete opposite to a debit card.  Instead of money coming out of an account, money will be added.  When a student signs up for the card, they must open a bank account with the bank/s sponsoring the scheme.

There are approximately 5 million students in the UK, and a large number of these students will want to take advantage of this scheme, therefore the bank will not only get a significant increase in student accounts initially, but thousands of new accounts each year.
Security

One thing that makes this card different from any other card is the fact that it cannot be abused!

No matter who uses it, the money will always go into the student’s account or be paid off the student loan.  In fact, the more people who use the card, the better off the student will be. 

The card will also be used as a membership card, allowing holders of the card to gain entry at a reduced price to a number of major clubs or Venues within the UK who are associated with the student zone.

THE PILOT SCHEME
November 2002 sees the launch of a pilot scheme, with help from students at Universities and colleges across the UK. The National SDRS will begin in September 2003.
 
This is a statistical exercise that will allow us to collate information on the students and their families', spending trends.

We will monitor selected students from involved colleges and Uni’s and their spending at selected companies by collation of receipts.  This will be over a 3 month period, which include; Argos, Iceland, The Body Shop, Snow & Rock, Littlewoods, Allders, BHS, Kangaroo Poo, National Express, BSM, Early Learning Centre, Dollond & Aitchison, Student Desktops, Lets Go Travel  & Student Travel Association. In February the participating businesses will have the opportunity to look at the data collected and gauge the viability of the scheme on a long term basis. 

The Government are also showing a continued interest due to the political issues of student Debt. They are awaiting the pilot scheme results to determine the viability of a collective match within the Universities and Colleges, who would have the overall control and the accumulation be distributed amongst the students from less affluent backgrounds. This will in turn re distribute the wealth fairly amongst the students.

Barclays Bank is also awaiting these results.
 
Because it is, perhaps more importantly the spending power of the parents and family members that will gains the student savings in their SDRS accounts, the full SDRS is open to all business sectors on both a local and a national scale.
 
Priority for participation in the full scheme will be given to participants of the pilot as we are potentially only looking to involve one business from each sector. i.e. one supermarket, one bookshop, one record store, one clothing retailer, one travel operator, one airline, one car manufacturer etc

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