The Scottish Government has today announced an additional funding package of £30 million to help students struggling through the current recession. The fund will potentially benefit over seventy five thousand students studying HNC/HND, undergraduate or teaching training courses.

Details of the fund include a one thousand pound grant for mature students, which will benefit 14,000 mature students who have previously only been entitled to loans and students from the lowest income backgrounds will see their student loans increased by over £600 pounds.

Colleges and Universities will also be given an extra £2 million pounds funding specifically targeted at supporting childcare in order to help those with families continue studying.

Commenting on the announcement Sandra White MSP for the Glasgow Region said: "This welcome announcement at a time of economic uncertainty for many students will help ensure that those doubting whether they can afford to continue studying, can continue studying.

"It’s always important that people are encouraged to go back into education and to know that they have a future and that's why  helping mature students and those with children is so important.

"I myself went back into education and would always want everyone to have the same opportunity and would never want anyone too feel that they were too old or that they had missed their chance." 

Note:

Student funding announcement. 28/10/2009:

The announcement is a £30m package for the 2010-11 academic year. This potentially benefits full-time students on HNC/HND, undergraduate or teacher training courses - 75,900 in total.

A £1,000 grant for mature ("independent") students. Students are in this category if at the start of their course they are over 25, have been supporting themselves for three years, or are married/in a civil partnership. This will benefit 14,000 students. They had previously only been entitled to loans. This is particularly important at a time of economic difficulty when people may be considering retraining.

A £2m increase in support for childcare. This will be paid to colleges and universities themselves to distribute to students with childcare responsibilities. This was requested by NUS following reports of unusually high strain on the existing funds in the last year. The Scottish Government and NUS will now explore moving to a nationally-standardised entitlement model and away from discretionary payments by institutions.

£622 extra up-front payment. The basic student loan will be increased by £442. The additional loan top-up, which is particularly targeted at students from the lowest income backgrounds (<£18,300 per year), will be increased by £180. This loan will also be extended to independent students for the first time, giving them equality with parentally-dependent students.

In total this increases the core student funding package to £5,852 for the next academic year. This is an increase from £4,625 for independent students and £5,230 for parentally-dependent students. Although this is not the £7,000 that student groups have campaigned for, it is the largest one-year increase in up-front support since devolution.