Student grants are set to be replaced with loans

Will this affect you or a family member?

There are changes to be brought into affect from 1st August 2016 in England which will see changes to students grants.

The grants will be abolished and replaced with a loan if you come from a low income home.

Previously, students who come from a family where the annual incomes is £25,000 or less received a full grant of £3,387 a year.

The National Union of Students have described the move as ‘disgraceful’ and meant poorer students would be saddled with a lifetime of debt.

This move was announced in July 2015 by the Chancellor at the time, George Osborne, in his Budget announcement.

Mr Osborne said at the time that there was a “basic unfairness in asking taxpayers to fund grants for people who are likely to earn a lot more than them”.

NUS vice-president Sorana Vieru told BBC Breakfast: “It’s a disgraceful change that basically punishes poorer students simply for being poor, so they have to take a bigger loan than those students from privileged backgrounds. It could put off students from underprivileged backgrounds from applying, who might not understand how the loan system works, or are very debt-averse. We also know that mature students are way more debt-averse than younger students and BME [black and minority ethnic] students perceive student debt on a par with commercial debt.”

Will this affect you in the future? Maybe it may affect your child? What do you think of the move?

To read the full story, head to BBC here…