Solent Students’ Union supports the NUS' #CutTheCosts Campaign

During this year’s summer budget it was announced that students’ maintenance grants could be scrapped and replaced with maintenance loans. This would mean that these grants which offer fundamental financial support to students from lower income families may change to loans of up to £8,200, starting from the 2016/17 academic year.

What are maintenance grants and what are the proposed changes?

• Maintenance grants are currently available to students from lower income households to support their living costs such as food and rent.
• The maximum grant is £3,387 per year for students whose household income is less than £25k.
• NUS understands that currently, approximately 500,000 students rely on maintenance grants.
• The government proposals would stop all grants to new students from September 2016, forcing poorer students to take on further debt to fund their studies.

If this change passes, the impact could be detrimental to the hundreds of thousands of students in the UK who depend on them. As a result, Solent Students’ Union has made the decision to campaign against these changes and to support the NUS’ #CutTheCosts campaign. You can read more about the campaign here.

Naomi Oiku, SU President says:

‘Access to education is a right and should be made available to anyone seeking it. If the change to maintenance grants goes ahead, this could create a huge barrier to the poorer students who depend on them and could lead to a lower quality of life due to a larger amount of debt they will have to pay back. At Solent Students’ Union, we actively seek to remove such barriers and ensure our students are supported throughout their university experience. As a result, we fully endorse the NUS' campaign, and we will be attending the 'Cut the Costs' Westminster Lobby on December 8th.’

For more information on the ‘Cut the Costs’ Westminster Lobby, click here. If you wish to attend, please email su.president@solent.ac.uk.