Our colleagues at the LGA Lib Dem group have prepared a template press release and figures on the replacement of student maintenance grants.
ALDC members can download the template as an MS Word file and the figures as an MS Excel spreadsheet from our File Library.
If you’re not currently an ALDC member, but would like to find out more about our range of support services and access to the File Library, click here.
Press Release
In George Osborne’s summer budget, the government announced that maintenance grants for poorer students would be replaced by loans from 2016/17.
These grants are targeted at families on incomes of less than £25,000 with a decreasing amount available for households on incomes up to £42,620.
Latest figures from the student loans company show that around [insert figure] students in [insert local authority] are benefitting from this grant, worth up to £3,300. A total of around [insert total grant] for the most disadvantaged [insert local authority] students in the previous academic year.
Local liberal democrats have said that this was a plan their party had to block whilst in coalition.
[insert group leader/spokes] said:
“This is a direct attack on the poorest families, adding a barrier to young people going to University.
The Lib Dems blocked these Tory plans in 2013, insisting that this extra support for the poorest students should be protected just as we insisted on extra money for the poorest students in the school system through the pupil premium.
Now we’re seeing a Tory majority government jump at the chance to hit this group of young people.”
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx
ALDC Member Downloads
Template Press Release – Student Maintenance Grants
Spreadsheet – Numbers of students and amount of grant by university