University maintenance grants set to return as Government seeks youth vote Ministers are preparing plans to bring back university maintenance grants, i can reveal. The move is part of “broader thinking” […]

Ministers are preparing plans to bring back university maintenance grants, i can reveal.

The move is part of “broader thinking” by the Department for Education to implement policies that will have greater appeal to younger voters.

The level of debt graduates are leaving university with has come under significant scrutiny in recent months. Tuition fees became a major battleground during the election, following Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to scrap the policy prompting young voters to flock to Labour in their droves.

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Poorest hit hardest

Over the weekend, Theresa May announced plans to freeze tuition fees at £9,250 a year while the income threshold at which graduates will be expected to start paying back their loans was raised from £21,000 to £25,000.

But the DfE wants to go further and bring back maintenance grants to help the poorest students.

“We don’t think it is right that the poorest students come out of university with most debt,” a senior DfE source said.

The source refused to rule out that the plans could be contained in the Budget next month, although separate sources said the plans were not that advanced.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, bringing back maintenance grants would cost just under £500m.

Treasury battle

The think tank published research yesterday showing the Prime Minister’s plan to raise the repayment threshold would cost the taxpayer £2.3bn a year, and lead to 83 per cent of graduates never paying off the full amount of their loan.

It is understood that Education Secretary Justine Greening is battling with the Treasury to push through the plans.

Former Chancellor George Osborne announced in 2015 that maintenance grants would be scrapped in time for the start of the 2016 academic year as part of the Government’s austerity drive. The grants were kept by the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The move to abolish the funding meant students from the lowest income households were forced to take out loans on top of their tuition fees loans to pay for living costs and food.

Cash in the pocket

Labour has said it would bring back the grants, and the policy is gaining support from university vice-chancellors, who are concerned about the level of debt their poorest students are falling into.

Universities UK, which represents the majority of higher education institutions in Britain, said the return of maintenance grants would be a “welcome enhancement”.

Alistair Jarvis, UUK Chief Executive, said: “Students tell us that it is cash in their pockets while studying that matters most.

“The current undergraduate funding system in England has seen has seen record numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university. However, it is right to continue to examine how the current system can be improved to ensure that money isn’t a barrier for students.”