UK maintenance grants scrapped and replaced with loans

Maintenance grants from the UK Government have been replaced with additional loans for the poorest students from Monday 8 August 2016.

The switchover from grants to loans, announced in 2015 by the then chancellor, George Osbourne, came into effect this week.

The grants, which were available for around half a million of UK students from low-income backgrounds, had been worth around £3,500 each.

They have been replaced with additional loans, which students will have to repay once they have graduated and are earning more than £21,000.

The cuts will affect students starting their undergraduate degrees this coming academic year.

Sorana Vieru, vice-president of the NUS, has said that the abolition is a “change that basically punishes poorer students simply for being poor.”

She said that the cuts, which force underprivileged students to take out larger loans than their wealthier peers, might “put them off from applying to university.”

This has just made university a much more difficult option for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Ben Farrar, first-year Mathematics

Since the announcement, the government has faced criticism because of the decision, and the way it was made. The cuts were discussed by a small legislation committee of 17 MPs, without a vote and debate in the House of Commons.

Nonetheless, a statement for the BBC from Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, suggested that despite the cuts, students will still “end up with more money in their pocket.”

He said that although the grants did not have to be paid back, students will end up with about £8,200, whereas previously they had about £7,500.

Ben Farrar, first-year Mathematics student, commented: “This has just made university a much more difficult option for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Even with the additional loans available, the cuts will inevitably further dissuade potential students from choosing to go to university.”