Hardship 'bar' to studying

Costs will deter students, MSPs heard

Students will be put off attending university because they are afraid of hardship, a leading academic has warned.

Sir Stewart Sutherland, convener of the Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals (Coshep), was speaking to MSPs investigating changes to the student finance system.

He also told the Scottish Parliament's enterprise committee that failure to give students proper funding could hurt the nation's economy.

Sir Stewart said the Scottish Executive's estimate of the cost for a student living away from home - £4,225 - was £700 short of Coshep's calculations.

The Tories' Deputy Leader, Annabel Goldie asked if this would deter students from taking up university places.

Sir Stewart said: "As you begin to pare away, as you do with the threshold and the real cost for a year's study, yes you will inevitably deter students who would be applying and aspiring to higher education."

Graduates must repay costs

The committee is scrutinising the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Bill introduced following the Cubie inquiry into student finance.

The inquiry, headed by Andrew Cubie, recommended graduates should contribute £3,075 to the cost of their education once they started earning £25,000 a year.

But the Scottish Executive cut the payback threshold to £10,000 - although it also reduced the amount to be paid to £2,000.

On Tuesday, Mr Cubie told the committee that this undermined the principle of his report.

Level 'too low'

Sir Stewart said: "You will not be surprised to hear that in our response we think the £10,000 threshold is too low.

"We accept the principle that the beneficiary pays and students who benefit from university education can expect to earn more in the employment that they take up.

"We would like the threshold to clearly indicate that the student is earning a higher salary because they have benefited from the education that they have had."

The bill was withdrawn by the Scottish Executive earlier this month when the enterprise committee found errors in the first draft.

It is expected to be re-submitted in December.