SNP cuts to student bursaries have seen individual loans skyrocket, new analysis from Scottish Labour reveals.As students prepare to begin their first semester of the academic year this coming Monday, research reveals that the average student bursary is more than £400 per year less than when the SNP came to power.
In 2006-07 the average bursary was £1,760 per year compared with £1,330 in 2015-16.
As a consequence the average loan has increased by nearly £3,000 per year.
In 2006-07 the average loan paid per student for living costs in that academic year was £2,310, but the latest figures shows that has risen to £5,290 per year.
Labour said the cuts to grants and bursaries saddled the next generation with unfair debt burdens.
The SNP came to power in 2007 promising to abolish student debt; instead it has doubled during the decade the SNP has been in office.
Scottish Labour education spokesperson, Iain Gray, said:
“Labour supports free tuition – but it has to be backed up by proper cost of living student support.
“Instead, this SNP government has slashed grants and bursaries which forces students to turn to higher loans.
“This is a completely unfair way to saddle the next generation with debt.
“Today in Scotland it is the poorest students who rack up the highest debts. Those who start with the least end up owing the most. That’s not fair and it stops far too many young people getting a degree.
“We need to start taking steps on this now – starting by increasing the salary threshold which graduates begin to pay back their student loan.”
NOTES
SPICe analysis of statistics published by the Students Awards Agency for Scotland shows that:
In 2006-07 the average loan paid per student for living costs in that academic year was £2,310. In 2015-16 the figure had risen to £5,290 in that academic year.
This represents an average loan increase of £2,980 over that period or a 120 per cent rise in loan payments made.
The average bursary / grant payment in 2006-07 was £1,760 compared with £1,330 in 2015-16 – a reduction of 24.4 per cent.
Source: analysis of Table 1A at Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2015-16 available athttp://www.saas.gov.uk/_forms/statistics_1516.pdf
West Dunbartonshire Councillor Martin Rooney 