Grants removal will impact on students, says university chief
The scrapping of grants for lower income students will impact on their ability to go on to higher education, a university vice-chancellor has said.
Professor Geoff Layer from the University of Wolverhampton has raised his concerns after George Osborne announced he would be doing away with student maintenance grants, worth up to £3,387 a year, from September 2016.
The grants are currently available to students of families with incomes less than £25,000 a year but will be replaced by loans which will have to be paid back after graduation.
Professor Layer said the decision to scrap grants would impact heavily on students at the university, which has a large campus at Priorslee in Telford as well as a presence at the town's Southwater.
He said: "We need to have a sustainable and well-funded higher education sector. The removal of student maintenance grants could have a significant effect on those from low income backgrounds and we need to clearly manage the potential impact on these already disadvantaged groups.
"As the university of opportunity, we have one of the highest proportions of students from working class backgrounds in the UK. We believe it is vital everyone has access to education in in order to fulfil their potential. We believe education provides the best means of increasing social justice, social mobility and economic growth which is why it's important that financial support should not be a barrier to participation.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Osborne said more than half a million students in England were getting a grant from the taxpayer, worth in total £1.57bn a year. He said the cost of was going to double to £3bn in the next 10 years and claimed there was a "basic unfairness in asking taxpayers to fund grants for people who are likely to earn a lot more than them".
In the last year the university has committed £650,000 to the Dennis Turner Opportunity Fund. The fund was set up following the withdrawal of the Access to Learning Fund by the Government, and will support students who find themselves in financial hardship that might impact on their ability to continue at the university. The fund was named in memory of Lord Bilston, former Wolverhampton South East Labour MP and later peer.
