Government cuts student grants

Parliament have announced that the government is cutting grants for students from middle-income homes.

This controversial move comes after the revelations of gross miscalculations in the Higher Education Bill.

Senior sources in Whitehall put the blame on the haphazard creation of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, as well as the announcement of an increase in student grants within eight days of Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister last year.

At the time, the new policy changed the threshold for a full grant from £17,500 to £25,000 and expanded partial grants to students whose parents earned up to £60,000. Ministers drastically underestimated how many students would be eligible for this support, leaving a £200m gap in funding for universities.

As a result, the partial grants introduced for students from households earning up to £60,000 have now been scrapped, enabling the government to focus on students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds.

Although poorer students will be relatively unaffected, many have voiced concerns over the injustice faced by students from middle-income families.

In response to the recent decisions, Wes Streeting, President of the National Union of Students, said: “Obviously, it is very good news that more students from lower income families will be going to university. However, the measures laid out by the Government to compensate for this will inevitably hit new students from middle income families at a time when they are struggling to cope with the impact of the credit crunch.

“The Government needs to stop tinkering with grants and fees every year, and recognise that the entire higher education funding system is unsustainable. We need a proper review of the system so that parents and students know where they stand.”

Many students are asking why the government is finding it particularly difficult to find £200m worth of funding to fill the deficit and stick to their promises, when the same government can find hundreds of billions to bail out banks.

One student at Warwick commented on the recent news, saying: “I find it completely and totally ridiculous that the government can’t find the funding to support students. Although it is good that more efforts are being made towards ensuring poorer students don’t face a tough time, as a person who comes from a middle-income family, I feel abandoned by the current government.”

It seems, however, that in times of such severe economic decline, the financial system will have to take priority over student funding.

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