Student Finance England needs reform. With rent, food shopping, and household bills skyrocketing in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis, maintenance loans are no longer cutting the mustard, and reform is needed across the student loan service.
For some unbeknownst reason, the student loans available to English students fall far short of the remuneration available to Scottish students. Despite living in the same cities, attending the same universities, and undertaking the same courses, student loans are a devolved policy that varies across the UK. For English students, the minimum amount of student loan available to all students, including those whose familial income passes the upper threshold of £62,343, currently stands at £4,651 per year. By contrast, Scottish students are currently entitled to a minimum maintenance loan of £8,400, a £2,400 increase from the previous academic year.
Moreover, student maintenance loans have not risen in line with inflation. For English students, they have risen by 2.5 per cent from the last academic year, but with inflation currently sitting at 4 per cent, students are having to tighten their belts. In fact, since 2021, maintenance loans have been shown to run around 11 per cent behind inflation.
The 2.5 per cent increase implemented this September, presented by the government as a rewarding lifeline to struggling students, is deeply deceptive and hugely unfair to English students, considering Scottish maintenance loans have risen by nearly 30 per cent for this academic year.
According to the NatWest Student Living Index, the average rent for Edinburgh students is £819 per month, far surpassing the UK average of £689. Furthermore, supermarket shopping has seen an increase country-wide by 11.4 per cent year on year, with students in Edinburgh spending the second most after students in Colchester. 52 per cent of students have also reported running out of cash before the end of term. Shouldering the cost of student living has never been more difficult for a vast number of students the country over.
Not only should maintenance loans see a significant increase, the model of means-testing needs a serious overhaul. Not only is it outdated, it’s remarkably ineffectual. Whilst parents are required to provide their financial data in order for students to secure funding, at no point are parents required to serve as guarantors, and means-testing fails to account for relationship difficulties that could prevent students from acquiring financial support via parents and relations. Student loan reform is needed urgently, or else underprivileged students will face serious consequences and the higher education system will become closed off to the wealthy elites.
“Old College, University of Edinburgh (24923171570)” by LWYang from USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0.