Students: Loans

(asked on 13th June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the impact of inflation on the adequacy of the amount offered by student maintenance loans.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 21st June 2022

Ministers consider changes to support arrangements for students in higher education (HE) on an annual basis. The department is currently reviewing options for uprating maximum grants and loans for the 2023/24 academic year.

Upfront loans are available as a contribution towards undergraduate students’ living costs while attending university, with the most support available for students from the lowest income backgrounds.

Maximum grants and loans for living costs were increased by 3.1% this academic year, 2021/22, and the department has announced that they will increase by a further 2.3% in the 2022/23 academic year. In addition, we are freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By the 2024/25 academic year, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.

In the department’s guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2021/22 financial year, we made clear that the OfS should protect the £256 million allocation for the student premiums to support disadvantaged students and those that need additional help. The 2022/23 financial year guidance to the OfS confirms universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through the student premium. Ministers’ Strategic Priorities Grant guidance letter to the OfS asks that the OfS looks to protect the student premium in cash terms for the 2022/23 financial year.

Alongside this, the government is also making available discretionary funding of £144 million to support to support those ineligible for council tax, including students, vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes.

The government has also announced that households will get £400 of support with their energy bills through an expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme. As well as doubling the £200 of support announced earlier this year, the full £400 payment will now be made as a grant, which will not be recovered through higher bills in future years.

The department has secured up to £75 million to deliver a National Scholarship Scheme which will support high-achieving, disadvantaged students to reach their full potential whilst studying in HE. This scholarship aims to address the ongoing financial barriers that can restrict high-achieving, disadvantaged students from achieving their full academic potential whilst studying in HE and is in addition to the significant sector interventions already in place.

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