Some of you may have seen the news recently that a Student Finance Bill was recently brought to Parliament. As a Students’ Union, we were asked to provide our input on it before it’s first reading, and we’ll be involved in the process moving forward! Here’s what you need to know.
Some of you may have seen the news recently that a Student Finance Bill was recently brought to parliament. As a Students’ Union, we were asked to provide our input on it before it’s first reading, and we’ll be involved in the process moving forward! Here’s what you need to know.
What is the Student Finance (Review of Payment Schedules) Bill?
The Student Finance Bill, tabled by MP Luke Charters, seeks to make changes to the way Student Finance is currently paid out to students. You can read the transcript of the first reading here, but here are two main things included in this version of the bill that you should know about.
- The bill asks the Secretary of State to review the overall schedule for Student Finance payments, particularly looking to move to a monthly schedule for maintenance payments or adjusting pay dates rather than the current termly ones.
- The bill also asks for review of a provision that would allow students to access their funding in advance if needed, particularly to support things like rental deposits or the equipment they need to grab at the start of the year for their course.
The bill was read on Wednesday 7th January as a 10 minute bill (basically, an opportunity for a back bencher to propose a bill in 10 minutes) and was passed onto a 2nd stage reading with the support of a variety of different Students Unions from Manchester to London. We also got a mention in the reading as one of the supporting SUs!
Why is this Important?
There are a lot of reasons why a move to a different Student Finance schedule and advance payments could help students.
- Advance payments bridge the gap between essential costs and SFE payment dates – from rent payments to deposit.
- Advance payment systems also exist for systems like Universal Credit – where vulnerable groups can claim advance payments to help them manage important costs better.
- A monthly schedule of payments is easier to budget, as it allows you to calculate your needs/costs per month rather than a large chunk of money at the start of the semester. That should position students better financially, as they aren’t struggling when they suddenly reach the holidays and can’t afford necessities.
- This also makes for an easier transition to “real life” after university, particularly for students who have left home for the first time!
- Looking at legislation soon coming into effect, the Renters Rights Bill will be moving most people onto rolling contracts rather than fixed term, and therefore a different payment schedule would give students a lot more flexibility if they choose to leave a contract.
Our Contribution!
As previously mentioned, we had a chance to contribute and support the bill at this initial stage. Luke reached out to our Students Union, as well as many other SUs in the country, to ask for support, thoughts and opinions. Our response broadly reflected the important points mentioned earlier, but also a couple of other points.
We stated that we felt that while this would be an improvement, it could not be an overall fix as there are many issues with Student Finance in its current form that would also need to change. Particularly with some students getting as little as £300 from their maintenance loan, that extra up-front funding can sometimes be crucial. We would hope this is a situation that could be assisted with advance payments or more optionality in the schedule for different types of leaners. We also felt that this makes it especially important that the introduction of maintenance grants includes all students rather than “priority” courses.
We did feel that overall, the bill was important and put our support behind it. Following from this, we continue to be involved in these discussions and would like others to give their thoughts too!
Next Steps and How to Get Involved!
We and other SUs met with Luke and NUS on Tuesday about the Student Finance Bill, and many students from across the country shared testimony of their experiences. Following that meeting, we have been asked to reach out to share personal testimony, student opinion and different perspectives on the potential changes. This is where we’d like to ask for your input – if you want, share your experience with student finance and your thoughts on a change, whether positive or negative. We want to make sure that our feedback is reflective of your view points. Please feel free to reach out via leah.thompson@staffs.ac.uk and we will compile the feedback to pass it on.