Providing more support to students

I was recently delighted by a Scottish Government announcement that will be of significant help to students from Banff & Buchan and across Scotland. The level of support provided to students across Scotland is set to increase in order to help more students through the current economic downturn, with an estimated 75,900 students - 68% of Scotland’s eligible students – set to see their incomes increase in the next economic year.

This funding will include an additional £2 million to help those students that have additional childcare costs to meet, something that is entirely appropriate given the increased level of financial pressure that they face while at university compared to other students.

The maximum level of the income assessed student loan will increase by £442, something that will provide a significant boost to many of the poorest students in Scotland. Many of the students that will benefit from this are forced to take out commercial loans to fund their studies, with interest repayments causing a significant strain on their budgets. This increase in the amount available through student loans will help to reduce their reliance on such a costly way of financing their studies.

The amount available in grants under the Young Students Bursary is also set to increase, benefiting 40,700 students between 16 and 25. This will directly help the poorest students in Scotland that are part of this scheme.

The economic downturn has had a significant impact on Scotland’s students and I believe it is right that the Scottish Government takes action to help them cope with their circumstances. Many students now struggle to find part-time work to help fund their studies and many parents are unable to contribute financially to their children’s higher education as a result of the pressures they themselves face.

Having an extensive pool of skilled graduates from our universities and colleges is vital to making Scotland an attractive location for businesses and other organisations to invest in, so ensuring that as many people as possible are able to continue their education is particularly vital to our economic recovery.

The SNP Government remains committed to doing what it can for students and has already abolished the previous administration’s graduate endowment of more than £2,000 which acted as a back-door tuition fee. Additionally, £38 million has been allocated to replace loans with grants for 20,000 part time students. This latest announcement is a welcome next step and I know it will come as good news to many students and their families.

Better facilities for school children

The Scottish Government reached a significant milestone recently with the confirmation that 236 schools across Scotland had been rebuilt or refurbished since May 2007. This figure contrasts with the 205 schools delivered over the entire four years of the last parliamentary session under the previous administration.

The subject of school building has been subject to some particularly disingenuous claims by opposition parties, despite the fact that communities across Scotland can see the developments being delivered with their own eyes. Where 260,000 pupils were being taught in schools with a poor or bad rating for their condition before the SNP came to power, in the two and a half years since the election that number has dropped by 100,000.

Clearly there has been substantial progress, but this cannot be allowed to slow. Pupils in Banff & Buchan and across Scotland deserve to be taught in good quality school facilities, and continued efforts will help lift more and more pupils out of the crumbling buildings that are the legacy of previous administrations.