Alan Whitehead

Labour Party | Southampton Test

WHITEHEAD WELCOMES EXTENSION OF HIGHER EDUCATION GRANTS – MORE SOUTHAMPTON STUDENTS TO BENEFIT

Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, has welcomed today’s announcement by the government that more students will be eligible for full maintenance grants to help them pay for the costs of university.

The statement was made by Dr Whitehead’s Southampton colleague, the Rt Hon John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovations, Universities and Skills and announced a number of wide-ranging changes to the student loan system. Students from families with incomes of up to £25,000 will be entitled to full grants - at present only students from households with incomes of up to £17,500 are entitled to full grants. This will mean a third of all students will qualify for the full grant, up from only 29% currently, and two-thirds of all students will receive some level of maintenance grant.

The reforms will also allow students more flexibility with paying back their loans once graduated – with the option to take breaks from their repayments when their outgoings suddenly increase, such as when buying their first home for example. The break can also last for up to five years, at the request of the graduate. There will also be an extension of the current Student Associate Scheme, in which students return to the classroom as mentors and classroom assistants for 15 days a year, acting as role models for young people.

A new Higher Education Study Support Guarantee has also been promised which will provide all 16 year olds who qualify for the Education Maintenance Allowance a clear guarantee of the minimum level of maintenance grant and loan they will receive if they go to university or college, allowing them to make the crucial decisions on higher education whilst fully informed of their financial situation.

Dr Whitehead originally lobbied the government on this matter when the Higher Education Bill was going through Parliament in 2003-2004, publishing the acclaimed paper Excellence, Equity and Access: Squaring the Circle of Higher Education of Funding with his then Parliamentary colleague Peter Bradley in November 2003. They proposed maintenance grants for the poorest third of students entering higher education and stated:

“Only by providing what is, in effect, cash in hand to pay for maintenance will poorer students really be in a position to apply to universities across the higher education sector.”

Dr Whitehead said:

“I am delighted that the government have considerably increased the number of students who will be eligible for maintenance grants. Whilst the importance of upfront grants for students from poorer homes was always welcome; there have been questions about the level of the threshold particularly in a high-wage, high-cost economy such as Southampton’s.”

He added:

“Having worked on this issue for several years, I firmly believe that by raising the threshold, and providing a confirmation of financial support to students, no young person will be deterred from higher education through fear of the cost. Furthermore, with the new proposed fee payment breaks for house purchase, students will not find that repayments will bar them from purchasing a home after graduation.”