New scheme for postgraduates offers £10,000 loans

A new student loans system for postgraduate master’s degrees has been announced in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

Chancellor George Osborne stated that the new government-backed loans scheme will be worth up to £10,000 per student and will potentially benefit 40,000 students.

The loans will be available from the academic year 2016-17, and the expectation is that they will prompt an extra 10,000 students to enroll in postgraduate study.

The loans are available in any master’s subject, however only students under the age of 30 are eligible, and they are to be repaid alongside undergraduate loan repayments.

Increasing demand for staff with postgraduate qualifications is one among many other factors that has led to a drive for a more highly-skilled workforce.

The introduction of postgraduate loans is partly due to concerns that talented students may not continue their education beyond their undergraduate courses without financial support.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has been lobbying for such a scheme since 2012 with the launch of its postgraduate funding proposals. Since then, the NUS and various students’ unions have built a coalition of organisations including Centre Forum, Find a University Ltd., and have continued lobbying decision-makers across the country.

Implementing a postgraduate funding system was one of NUS’ key education requests in its General Election Manifesto.

Megan Dunn, NUS vice president stated: “NUS and students’ unions have been persistent in calling for financial barriers to be removed from access to postgraduate study, and today’s announcement is a major step in the right direction.

“Creating a government-backed postgraduate loans scheme will make a fundamental difference to the lives and opportunities of students. Many postgraduates are currently funding their study through potentially disastrous measures such as credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans.”

Ms Dunn noted that the scheme was an urgent matter, “We are looking forward to inputting in to the upcoming consultation, so that this much needed postgraduate loans scheme can be introduced as a matter of urgency.”

Andrew Thompson, a postgraduate sabbatical officer at Warwick, noted that one of the issues in his election manifesto which had the greatest resonance with students was the cost of postgraduate education.

He said: “The up-front cost of postgraduate study is simply not affordable for many, leading to students either not being able to access postgraduate courses or having to pay for their degree through credit cards, pay-day lenders or part-time study whilst working long hours.

“The proposed Postgraduate Loans [scheme] helps remove some of that financial barrier, in turn making postgraduate study much more accessible than the current setup. I definitely believe that these measures are a step in the right direction, though we should still aspire to expand the proposals in the future to make them more accessible for all.”