Government student funding cuts

Words such as 'underestimated' and 'miscalculated' were amongst the string of explanations that the Universities Secretary, John Denham, gave after the government revealed that student funding for those from middle-income families is to be cut by £100 million from 2009.

The decision, announced in Parliament on 29 October, is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills' (DIUS) reaction to a £200 million overspend after it underestimated the amount of student applications to university last year.

Will this affect you? Previously, students from households with incomes of up to £60,000 were eligible for partial grants (the cap had been raised to £60,000 only a few days after Gordon Brown entered office).

Now, however, after more students than expected were qualifying for full grants, the upper threshold to qualify for partial grants has been lowered to £50,020.

Students whose family income is less than this can apply for a special support or maintenance grant of up to £2,835.

But if your household income has left you without the option of a partial grant, you will be amongst the 10 per cent of prospective students, an estimated 40,000, who will also be paid nothing at all.

On top of this, the number of places available at university will be cut by 5000.

The move is a blow to middle-income families, but, with the economy rapidly heading towards a recession and financial assets struggling as it is, the extra burden of having to fund their son or daughter's three or more years at university is hardly welcome.

David Willetts, shadow Universities Secretary, has hit out at the decision, saying "Times are tough for middle-income families and our figures show the government is making things even tougher for them...When their policy comes apart at the seams because they can't afford it, they don't even tell us how people are affected."

However, whilst it does not seem right that 10% of prospective students will be penalised for the government's miscalculations, there is clearly still support for lower-income families.

Students with household incomes of lower than £25,000 need not worry, as this is the only area left untouched in eligibility for full grants.[-[quote]-]

If any action had to be taken, it is at least positive that the decision made did not expand to families that could not afford to suffer the consequences.

It is not exaclty justified, and does not appear to be showing a huge amount of government support for students going to university, but at least some rationality remains.

NUS President, Wes Streeting, said that, while clearly not the wisest move, it is "very good news that students from lower income families will be going to university".

Current students will also have nothing to worry about.

Younger siblings hoping to apply will be affected, but those already at university will continue to receive the same support they were entitled to from the start.

So how will this affect students in the long-term?

The prospect of university is sometimes daunting as it is.

But, for those excluded from maintenance grants and even for those with partial grants, the pressure of providing extra money could discourage them altogether.

'Could', however, must be emphasised. It may be that this is not the case; the same volumes of students could continue to apply for higher education and simply seek more part-time work/support from parents.

Students from lower-incomes will most likely continue to apply if the support remains.

Certainly, the government has made a blunder in misjudging the amount of money it had available to spend in this sector, but only the years will tell the direct impact it will have on the statistics of applications.