ANNEX I
CONSULTATION QUESTIONS
Thank you for taking the time to respond to this consultation on higher education student support. To assist you in forming your response to this consultation, the following annex lists all of the questions contained in the paper. You do not need to answer all of these questions, but we would appreciate the widest possible range of responses and all will be considered.
Section 3 - Investing in Student Support
Option 1a
- What are your views on the proposal to begin a move to grants by extending the Young Students Bursary?
- Do you feel that the focus of bursary support should continue to be on dependent students?
Option 1b
- What are your views on the extension of bursary support to independent students as part of a transition to grants?
Option 1c
- What are your views on the proposal from the ASC to introduce full bursary/grant support for higher education courses in colleges?
- In particular, what are you thoughts on the potential for this to change the nature of support so that it would be based on what type of institution you were attending rather than your level of study?
Option 2
- What are your views on the NUS proposal to increase the overall support available by increasing the grant support currently available?
- How should we address the potential effect on parental or partner contributions?
- How should the increase in income be addressed for independent students who receive no bursary support?
Option 3
- What are your views on this hybrid option aimed at those on the lowest incomes?
Other options
- Are there any other initiatives or ideas that you believe we should explore further?
Section 4 - Fairer Entitlement to Support
Support for Second HE Qualifications
- What are your views on the options proposed to ensure that the funds available are used as fairly as possible to give students adequate support for their first degree?
- Do you agree that we should consider removing student loan support for second degrees?
- Alternatively, should we be maintaining funding for this group to explore more avenues to support opportunities to retrain or upskill those who may face redundancy as part of the effects of the economic situation?
Minimum Loan
- Do you believe that there is a case for removing the minimum loan?
Travel Expenses
- Do you think that support for travel expenses should by subsumed into the main grant pot or should it remain a separate, claim-based fund?
- Should we differentiate between day-to-day travel expenses and trip to and from home from those who stay away from home?
Section 6 - Servicing Existing Student Loan Debt
- What are your views on our proposals to service existing student debt if funding becomes available in future?
Section 7 - Conclusion
- Overall, based on the options and issues presented in this paper, we would welcome your views on what our funding priorities should be for the £30 million pounds available in 2010-11 and in future years.