“The reality is that young people are finding the finances very, very difficult.”
The government recently announced that maintenance grants will return for some students from lower-income households by 2029 in England.
The grants will apply to “tens of thousands” of students, targeted at those “studying priority courses that support the industrial strategy and the Labour government’s wider mission to renew Britain,” said education secretary Bridget Phillipson at the Labour Party conference.
Funding for the grants will come from a tax on international student fees, applying only to higher education providers in England. The grants are designed to cover living expenses such as rent, food, and travel while studying, support that was scrapped under the Conservative government in 2016.
While the likes of the Telegraph, sensationally warned that Labour’s plan could ‘devastate’ universities by reducing international student numbers and worsening financial crises, others have welcomed the announcement and have gone further, calling for the introduction of free tuition fees altogether.
Among those advocating for greater support is Professor Graham Galbraith, vice-chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent this week, he said the government needs to increase its financial support for young people in universities.
Referring to the rising cost of living, which is burdening students in the UK, and meaning some are even deferring their placements, he said:
“The reality is that young people are finding the finances very, very difficult.”
The government’s decision to reintroduce maintenance grants follows a tuition fee increase in 2024, from a freeze at £9,250 since 2017 to £9,535, aimed at easing financial pressures on universities.
In September, the TUC pledged to lobby for the abolition of tuition fees and the public funding of higher education. The motion, passed unanimously at the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton, also committed the organisation to demand pay parity between further education and schoolteachers, campaign for a fully funded national education service, and produce a comprehensive report outlining a vision for free education from cradle to grave.
Backing the motion, University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady said: “The labour movement is now united in our call for an end to tuition fees and a publicly funded education higher education system. The Labour Party must heed the TUC’s demand and fix the broken funding model.”
While campaigning to lead the Labour Party in 2020, Keir Stamer pledged to abolish tuition fees altogether. But in 2024, he said he made the “tough decision” to abandon the policy to prioritise spending on the NHS, saying, “we can’t have both.”
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