July

Queen’s Students’ Union condemns scrapping of student maintenance grants

Queen’s Students’ Union condemns the scrapping of maintenance grants for lower income students from England. [1]

Replacing these grants with more student loans will only discourage those from low income backgrounds from going to university. [2]

Those who do go to university are left to shoulder an increasingly crippling debt burden as they enter a workforce in the knowledge that they will probably never earn enough money to pay off their university debts. [3]

In response to the comments from the Department of Employment and Learning regarding maintenance grants [4]:

Queen’s Students’ Union President Caoímhe McNeill said: “We urge the Minister for Employment and Learning to disregard the financially discredited model of student loans in England and to develop a sustainable model of publicly funded higher education in Northern Ireland.”

It is vital that the NI Executive invests in young people and provides opportunity to those from all backgrounds.”

In response to the scrapping of maintenance grants in England:

Queen’s Students’ Union President Caoímhe McNeill said: “State grants are necessary to support those from low income backgrounds who wish to study at university. Less well-off students should not be punished with debt which can be avoided by students from wealthy backgrounds. This inequality only serves to make higher education more elitist and will negatively affect less well-off students from England who come to study at Queen’s.”

Queen’s Students’ Union Vice President Campaigns and Communications Seán Fearon said: “The Conservative – Lib Dem Collation increased tuition fees and created a ‘bidding war’ between universities for student money. It is insincere of the Conservatives to now claim that this system is a “problem” and “unaffordable”. They are making higher education unaffordable for the less privileged in society.”

Notes:

[1] BBC News coverage of scrapping of maintenance grants: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33444557

[2] Comments of The Sutton Trust, a respected think tank and project lead on social mobility through education: http://www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/sutton-trust-response-to-maintenance-grants-cuts-set-out-in-todays-budget/

[3] Fullfact.org summary of published information on graduate loan repayment: https://fullfact.org/education/student_loans_cost_public_graduate_repay-30785

[4] Comments from DEL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-33446735