Parties demand student debt help

Ministers urged students to campaign against Trident and ID cards

Opposition parties have joined forces with student leaders to demand new help for those suffering financial hardship in Scottish universities and colleges.

The Scottish Government has scrapped the graduate endowment and boosted means-tested allowances.

But Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems said the focus should shift to tackling cash problems for students still following their courses.

They argued for a £7,000 minimum income for the poorest students.

And they said there should be greater use of student loans.

Sympathy questioned

In a letter to the the Scottish Government, opposition leaders have banded together with the National Union of Students and students from 25 colleges and universities to argue that the current approach is misplaced.

They said their warning should act as a wake up call to the Scottish Government.

Ministers backed down from a promise to remove the burden of debt from Scottish graduates after the Scottish Parliament elections.

The Scottish Government, which is currently consulting on proposals to reform student support, said tens of millions of pounds had been invested in the area.

A spokesman for Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "Obviously student leaders have the job of fighting for their members but it is difficult to imagine families facing redundancy and wondering how they are going to pay the rent are going to have much sympathy.

"Instead, the NUS and others should be pressing Labour to reverse the cuts in the Scottish budget, calling for an end to the waste of billions of pounds on Trident and ID cards, and fighting the real battle to protect public services, including student support."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version