AM welcomes new student finance plans

Local AM for Gower, Rebecca Evans, has welcomed student finance plans that will mean that every student in Wales will receive the equivalent of the National Living Wage during term time while they study.
 
The radical overhaul of student finance in Wales was published after an independent review led by Professor Sir Ian Diamond and a panel of experts.  The proposals mean that the average Welsh student could receive £7,000 a year in grant support while they study, with a pro-rata version available to part-time students. The maximum level of support available is expected to be more than £9,000 a year for those studying full–time, if implemented in 2018/19.
 
The proposals that have been accepted include:
 

• A fundamental shift to a system that provides financial support for the daily living costs of students – both full-time and part-time – through a mix of grants and loans. It would mean students receiving the equivalent of the National Living Wage during term time while they study.
• A £1,000 annual non-means-tested universal maintenance grant to be made available to all students alongside the additional means-tested grant to cover living costs. Part-time students will receive a modified version of this support on a pro-rata basis.
• The top rate of maintenance grant and loan support, for a student living away from home outside London, should be equivalent to the National Living Wage – based on 37.5 hours per week over a 30 week period, currently £8,100. A maximum total support of 25% more (£10,125) to be available for a student living away from home in London.
• Maintenance support to be paid to students, as soon as is practicable, on a monthly basis to enable more efficient financial planning and budgeting.
• New, innovative ways of funding part-time students and a support package for post-graduate studies that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Students with an experience of care will receive the maximum maintenance grant.

 
The Welsh Government will consult on the proposed changes until 14th February 2017, with a view to the new arrangements being in place for students starting university in September 2018. The changes will be subject to Treasury approval and the ability of the Student Loans Company to put the new funding system in place.
 
Rebecca Evans AM said: “These proposals are sustainable and fair and will provide future Welsh students with the support they need to flourish in higher education.
 
“They also represent the most generous and progressive set of proposals available anywhere in the UK.
 
“This once again signals that the Welsh Government is listening.  I speak to students from Gower regularly, and they tell me their biggest concern is living costs.  The Welsh Government is directly addressing this.”