Ch-ch-changes

March 2018

Government revokes the amendment it made to the regulation below!!!

What is going on? 



February 2018


Post Graduate  Pre-registration NHS courses -

Link to amendments to the regulations that show that Postgraduate NHS students domiciled in England will be funded like undergradutes from 2018/19

Link to amendments to the regulations paraphrased below highlighting main changes to the various Student Support Regulations with the most concerning highlighted in yellow

Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011

• ​​Armed forces or a family member

Amendments to allow a person in the armed forces or a family member of such a person to qualify for a fee loan and the disabled students’ allowance if they are undertaking a full-time distance learning course on the first day of the first academic year of the course outside England but within the United Kingdom.

Similar amendments for availability of  fee loans for part-time distance learning courses.

• ​Exceptional Circumstances

Amendments which will allow the discretion to award fee loans, living cost loans and grants (where applicable) and part-time fee loan in exceptional circumstances for students who fall in the scope of regulation 19 (3A) and 9(A) of Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 irrespective of whether the student has completed those academic years.

• ​ Amendments to the amounts of loans and grants

Update to the amount of loan and grant in relation to academic year which begins on or after 1st August 2018.

• ​Distance Learners 

Part 10 of the Student Support Regulations which deals with the provision of support to students undertaking designated distance learning courses is completely revoked by these amendments!!   

• ​S​​tateless Leave to Remain 

Introduction of a new category of eligible student -persons granted stateless leave and family members of such persons.

• ​Private Institutions Update 

​Update to the list of private and non-regulated institutions that have a Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework award for an academic year which begins on or after 1st August 2018.

• ​End-on course Amendment to remove and obsolete reference in the definition of “end-on course”.

Amendments to the Postgraduate Regulations.

• Amendment to description of an eligible student to ensure that a person in the armed forces or a family member of such a person may still qualify for support under the Postgraduate Regulations if they are undertaking a distance learning course outside England on the first day of the first academic year of the course but within the United Kingdom.
• Amendments to increase the amount of the postgraduate master’s degree loan to £10,609.
• Amendments to postgraduate regulations which are consequential upon the revocation of Part 10 of the Student Support Regulations with respect to distance learning.
• Introduction of  new category of eligible student for  persons granted stateless leave and family members of such persons.
• Amendments so that persons granted humanitarian protection and their families must be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of their course in order to qualify for support under the Postgraduate Regulations.

Miscellaneous Amendments to other regulations

• Amendments to Qualifying Courses Regulations to ensure that persons granted stateless leave and family members of such persons may be qualifying persons under those Regulations.
• Amendments to Fees and Awards Regulations to include  a new category of person  granted stateless leave and family members of such persons.
• Amendments to the European University Institute Regulations to ensure that persons granted stateless leave and family members of such persons may be eligible students under those Regulations

January 2018

Monday 1st of January heralded the launch of the Office for Students.

The appointment of Toby Young to the board seemed to dominate the headlines.

Varsity - a bit of a who's who

Newstatesman

Times Higher Education

Guardian


October 2017

On Monday 9th October Jo Johnson MP announced changes to the student loan repayment threshold for students domiciled in England to come into effect in April 2018.

Read the ministerial statement here


In addition the Treasury Committee announced a Student Loan Inquiry on 14th October.

The evidence session will commence with on Wednesday 18 October with student funding experts Dr Helen Carasso and Dr Andrew McGettigan.


February 2017

On Monday 6th February Jo Johnson MP announced the next phase in the selling off of the Student Loan Book to the private sector. 

Read the Press Release on Gov.UK

and on www.parliament.co.uk

Previous sales of Student Loan Book Assets 

1998 - Mortgage Style Loans sold to Natwest
1999 - Mortgage Style Loans sold to Nationwide and Deutsche Bank
2013 - Remaining Mortgage Style Loans sold to Erudio Student Loans






December 2016

English University undergraduate tuition fees to rise for all students from academic year 2017/18

Read amendment regulations here

Read related press articles - Independent 

                                         BBC News


October 2016

Scottish Government guarantees access to funding for EU students for those starting in September 2017.

Read the press release - here 

Department for Education confirms that EU students starting a higher education course in September 2017 will still have access to funding.

Read the press release - here

September 2016

Welsh Government announce yesterday (27/09/2016) the outcome of Professor Diamond's review of student funding for Higher Education students who are domiciled in Wales.

Read the full report here - The Diamond Review


July 2016

Jo Johnson MP Minister of State for Universities and Science today announced changes to the Tuition Fee cap and loan amounts for English and Wales domiciled Higher Education students as the Higher Education and Research Bill progresses pending the introduction Teaching Excellence Framework.

Read all the details HERE 

June 2016

Postgraduate Student Loans

The Education (Postgraduate Master's Degree Loans) Regulations 2016 come into force on 16th June.

Apply here from late June

See also 
Factsheet on Postgraduate Loans 
May 2016 Edition of Exchange
Quick Guides on Postgraduate Loans


Long Residence  

Amendement to the Education (Student Fees. Awards and Support) Regulations 2016 come into force on 6th June.

The amendements create a new category of eligible student in the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011

(3) In Schedule 1, Part 2 (Eligible Students – Categories) 

“Long Residence 13.—(1) A person who on the first day of the first academic year of the course— 

(a) is either— 

(i) under the age of 18 and has lived in the United Kingdom throughout the seven-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course; or 

(ii) aged 18 years old or above and, preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course, has lived in the United Kingdom throughout either— (aa) half their life; or (bb) a period of twenty-years; 

(b) is ordinarily resident in England; 

(c) has been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands throughout the three-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course; and 

(d) subject to sub-paragraph (2), whose residence in the United Kingdom and Islands has not during any part of the period referred to in paragraph (c) been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education. 

(2) Paragraph (d) of sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to a person who is treated as being ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands in accordance with paragraph 1(4).”

This change is particularly important to young people who have lived in the UK for a long periods but are still subject to immigration control. Many young people have passed through UK schooling and yet reach the stage when they should be entering higher education but have been prevented from doing so by the robust residency criteria requirements. This change to the regulations in Engalnd and Wales will open access to higher education for some of these students.

March 2016

On March 1st 2016 Joe Johnson MP (Minister of State for Universities and Science) announced a significant planned change to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 which will change the residency requirements for EU national students.

Currently an EU national is entitled to apply for

• Tuition Fee Loan only if they come to UK to study in Higher Education
• Tuition Fee Loan and Living Cost Support (currently loans and grants) if they have lived in UK for 3 years prior to the start of their course.
• Tuition Fee and Living Cost Support if they are a EEA Migrant Worker or Family Member of a Migrant Worker

The proposal is to increase the residency requirement from 3 years to 5 years before an EU national can be eligible for the living cost support in their student finance package.

The government cite the increasing pressure on the student finance budget due to the level of EU applicants and their desire to manage the burden on the tax payer as their reason for the change. The changes will impact students starting a new course in academic year 2016/17.

Many EU nationals of course fall into the category of an EEA Migrant Worker and pay taxes themselves to the UK. These changes will not affect the entitlement of Migrant Workers and their families according to the statement. Neither will it affect "those who are already studying". 

If you are an EU national living in England and thinking of starting a Higher Education course please seek advice on this change before starting the course.

Useful information and guidance is available through UKCISA

January 2016

So much is happening in the Student Money world at the moment! It’s always dynamic and it can be tricky working out what applies to you, what and why it matters anyway, and should you care?

Here is quick breakdown on recent rumblings from our perspective, with a few links to help out.

In his Autumn Statement on 25^th November 2015 Chancellor George Osborne set out his spending review and covered much of it in his speech. Some of which grabbed the headlines, in particular his change of stance on Tax Credits for working families.

There was plenty in George's statement that significantly impacts students and, though it failed to make his speech, it didn’t go unnoticed; as covered, for example, in this article from the Independent - Government faces legal threat over controversial plan to make students pay £6,000 extra on loans

So what was the fuss about?

Changes to the Student Loan Repayment Term and Conditions    

Back in 2012 the Government made some changes to student finance for Higher Education Students who live in England and began their course from Sept 1^st 2012. The main headlines changes were

Raising the maximum tuition fee an institution could charge to £9,000

  &

Introducing a real rate of interest on the student borrowing

At the time there was a furor as the Liberal Democrats, who where then in a coalition government with the Conservatives, had made pre-election promises to remove Tuition Fees for HE students - not to increase them. It was a change of stance that hit Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg hard and, rightly or wrongly, dogged him till the next election.

The changes to the way interest would be applied meant that the government could no longer suggest the student loans were not really interest bearing. Previously the rate of student loan interest was linked to the Retail Price Index. This link was used to suggest that the student loans were not truly having interest applied, but that the balance was simply rising in line with inflation. The government tried to reassure Muslim students where their faith prevents the paying of interest that the student loans linked to RPI “do not attract interest in the commercial sense”. The 2012 changes made this more complex and problematic for Muslim students and it is an issue we will return to in a later blog.

The Conservative arm of the coalition offered some appeasement to the Lib Dems in the shape of the very short lived National Scholarship Programme. News of the NSP shot up like a rocket firework, but even as the promises of its three year financial commitment to help students from lower income backgrounds brightened the skies, rumours of its pending demise were already circulating around university upper echelons.

Martin Lewis (of TV and Money Saving Expert fame) was recruited to lead a task-force to ensure students were not discouraged from applying for Higher Education courses because of the 2012 funding changes. Other organisations such as the National Union of Students and the National Association of Student Money Advisers joined forces with him. They did a good job, and still do, in making sure students are well informed and don’t have to rely solely on government websites.

There was much focus placed on the so called “progressive” nature of the new system, in that it would be the higher earners paying more back into the public purse beyond graduation.

In addition the spotlight was placed on the new loan repayment threshold, which was increased from a post study income of £15,000 to £21,000 per year for the post Sept 2012 entrants. This meant a student under the 2012 system could earn more before having to start repaying their loan.

Vince Cable Secretary for Department of Business Innovation and Skills at the time said in a Ministerial Statement on 8th December 2010

‘As announced on 3 November, that income threshold will be £21,000 as from 2016, compared with the current threshold of £15,000. Our modelling to date has assumed that that threshold should be uprated every five years in line with earnings. In order to give better protection for those on lower incomes, we now propose that the uprating should instead be made every year. Around a quarter of graduates will be better off in this new, more progressive regime than under the current regime.’

Similarly from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills document FAQs regarding the 2012 student finance changes published in 2011:

Q I’m worried that I’m going to be saddled with a lifetime of debt as a result of the changes

A You don’t have to pay anything back until you are earning more than £21,000 a year. The £21,000 earnings threshold will be increased

There were rumblings that the folk at the Dept BIS might have got their maths wrong. Worries were voiced that the return on the new system of funding might not bring enough pennies back into the public coffers to be cost effective. These worries were dismissed in 2012.

So back to Mr Osborne’s Autumn Statement 2015, buried in the text he had this to say regarding a Freeze to the Student Loan Repayment Threshold:

2.76 To reduce government debt, the student loan repayment threshold for Plan 2 borrowers will be frozen until April 2021. The discount rate applied to student loans will be revised to 0.7% above RPI, to bring it into line with the government’s long-term cost of borrowing. Taken together, this will reduce the government’s estimate of the long-term student loans subsidy to around 30%

What?? Is this an attempt to retrospectively make up for getting those sums wrong? Or pick on students to cover losses from the tax credit U-turn? Whatever the reason this is pretty unprecedented, changing the repayment terms once a student has signed up to the system! Substantive changes have historically only affected new cohorts of students so at least they have opportunity to make an informed choice about signing up. Given the loan has a 30 year term, then the potential for future changes to the terms and conditions is rather worrying.

The government consulted on the “Freezing the Student Loan Repayment Threshold” and the outcome was published on 25th November. Only 5% of the respondents were "for" the proposal of “ Keeping the threshold of £21,000 the same for all post-2012 borrowers until April 2021”, yet the Chancellor has still gone ahead.

Mr Lewis was not happy and he is well known enough to help throw a super trouper on the matter, writing an open letter to the Prime Minister and promising to fund some students to take the matter to judicial review.

You will be affected by these changes if you started a HE course in September 2012 and took the student loan for fee and/or living costs from Student Finance England.

It will be an interesting story to follow.

The proposed removal of Maintenance Grants for students funded by Student Finance England.

Grants are elements of the student finance package that are non-repayable. Historically they have meant that many students especially from lower income backgrounds could afford to study in Higher Education. The Maintenance Grant currently makes up part of the living cost support for students from households with income under £42,620. The lower the household income then the more the living cost support is made up of grant (down to a lower household income threshold of £25K).

The Government plans to remove the Maintenance Grant from the package of support for students domiciled in England and starting a Higher Education course from September 2016. This will mean that the core living cost support will be a student loan only.

In our experience of talking to students and their families it is those from lower income backgrounds that are more averse to taking on the student debt. Certainly the changes will mean students from the lower income backgrounds are more likely to graduate with higher levels of student debt. The government no doubt will argue that the level of debt is not the issue but what you repay. That the system is geared to ensure the higher earner repay more after graduation and that those from lower income backgrounds are not disadvantaged. They may argue that evidence from the Office for Fair Access shows that more students from lower income background are going to university than ever, undeterred by the higher fees, and their heads not turned from their institution of choice by monetary incentives such as bursaries or fee waivers.

The changes are outlined in Statutory Instrument Education (Student Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 1951). As a so called negative instrument, it could become law without a debate on the matter in the House of Commons. Perhaps they hoped no one would notice?

The NUS noticed and have been very vocal shouting out for a debate. There has also been a petition circulating on social media and opposition MP’s have tabled motions to ask for a debate on the matter.  All this noise appears to have been successful in bringing about a parliamentary debate scheduled for Tuesday 19^th January.  

So it will be interesting to see how all this goes and whether the Education (Student Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 1951) is annulled or proceeds into legislation.

Changes to funding for NHS Courses

Proposals to change funding for students on NHS HE courses also featured in the Autumn Statement. This is complex issue and warrants a blog entry of all its own which we will post later this week.