SNP pledges review of student support system to 'equalise' financial help for university and college

Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed she will launch a review of the student support system, after she suggested financial help offered to those going to university and college should be a level playing field.

The SNP leader said Scotland should be looking to have an “equalised system of support” across further and higher education that is based on need rather than the sector individuals go into.

College students from the poorest backgrounds can currently access just under half the overall level of financial support – a mix of bursary and loan – their counterparts going to university can.

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However, the absence of student loans within the further education sector means that those studying at college are able to access an annual bursary around double that of university students.  

Sturgeon said: “I don’t think access to student support should be based on where you choose to study, it should be based on your particular circumstances as a student.

“I think we should be looking at having an equalised system of support across FE and across HE so that it’s you and your circumstances that drive what you get, not where you choose to go to study.”

Asked if she was making a commitment that if the SNP are re-elected further education students could, at some point in the next five years, look forward to the same support package as those in higher education, she added: “You will have to wait to see our manifesto in a few days time.

“But you can take it from what I’ve said that reviewing the entirety of student support to look at the anomalies and the different levels of support for different types of students is certainly something I want to see us do.”

The First Minister was speaking at a hustings event organised by the National Union of Students in Scotland, joined on the panel by Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, Green co-convener Partick Harvie and Conservative candidate Adam Tomkins.

Rennie, who claimed the college sector had “taken a hammering in recent years”, confirmed Lib Dem plans to provide £30m of new bursary funding to help students in higher and further education, and increase the point at which people have to start repaying their student loans from the current threshold of £17,495 to £21,000.

The Liberal Democrats would also provide £5m additional bursary support for the further education system to meet any annual shortfall faced. “We need to make sure that there is sufficient money available to cut the amount of debt that is incurred by students,” he said.

Dugdale said her party would increase the young student bursary for those from poorer backgrounds in higher education by about £900, while the independent student bursary - paid to those who are no longer dependent on their parents - would rise by around £180.

“A young person’s ability to get on in life should be determined by their potential, work ethic and talent, not how much money their parents have,” she said.

Tomkins, who is the Scottish Conservative candidate for Glasgow Anniesland, said: “At the moment we are paying for our so-called free university education by cutting college places and by slashing student bursaries which have the result of fewer poorer students going to university in Scotland than is the case in the rest of the United Kingdom.”