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Student funding revamp
15/02/2008
Means test arrangements for Scottish students are being overhauled to make them fairer and ensure they accurately reflect the make-up of modern families.
Eligibility for the Young Students' Bursary is also being extended to include, for the first time, students under 25 with a child over three.
Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said the new system would be 'simpler and fairer'.
She said:
"The means test arrangements have not been revised since their introduction in the 1960s and it's widely acknowledged that they do not reflect modern family life.
"This review has been long overdue and this new Scottish Government has acted to make it simpler. We're also taking this opportunity to increase access to the Young Students' Bursary and extend eligibility for the Dependant's Grant.
"We believe that access to education should be based on ability to learn and not ability to pay. We are already in the process of removing the inefficient graduate endowment fee and these further measures will help ensure that we have a level playing field for Scottish students."
The revised means test arrangements will come into effect from 2008/09 and will apply to new and existing students.
The extension of the Dependent's Grant will allow students who have a partner on a low income to claim extra support for them. Previously, only students with a spouse were eligible for this additional support.
Eligibility for the Young Students' Bursary of up to £2,575 (2008/09 figures) will be extended to include students who are under 25 and have a dependant child/children over three. It will also be extended to students under 25 who are married or have a partner and have a dependant child/children.
From 2008/09, the income assessment will reflect the make-up of the modern family, taking into account a partner's income in the same way that a spouse's/civil partner's income is currently taken into account.
From 2008/09 all students in further and higher education will be assessed using the same income assessment. This is a fairer system that recognises the income available to households when assessing entitlement to student support.
Currently where a student's parents are not married, he or she is assessed as coming from a single parent family. If a parent lives with a partner, the partner's income is currently not taken into account.
The income of a student's partner is also not taken into account in the current income assessment.