How students with parents on minimum wage will miss out on maintenance grants

Around 90 per cent of English students will not be eligible for maintenance grants, analysis has found, raising concerns that many of the poorest will miss out due to restrictions that are “completely bonkers”. The restrictions mean that even students with two parents working on minimum wage will miss out on the funding. Only 97,000 to 129,000 students – out of more than 1.1 million – will be able to get the grants, which will return from 2028, according to estimates by the Centre for Economics and Business Research for The i Paper. The support will be limited to those with household incomes of up to £30,000 studying subjects in line with the Government’s industrial strategy, which are expected to include engineering and health. Those with household incomes of up to £25,000 will get £1,000 in each of their first two years and £750 in each of the remaining years of their undergraduate degrees. The amount will taper down to £500 in the first two years and £375 in remaining years as incomes get closer to £30,000. Lewis Wilson, vice president at the National Union of Students, said the income threshold was “completely bonkers” and would leave out most students with two working parents. Two parents working 35 hours a week on the minimum wage would have a combined income of £46,300 – well above the threshold.A full-time working parent on the minimum wage is paid more than £26,000 a year – already putting them near the threshold. Wilson said: “It’s not really going to affect a lot of working-class students that really do need the support. I’m glad that it’s happening and it’s a step in the right direction, but it falls short of anything meaningful that would help a lot of students who are struggling right now.” He said the amount did not go far enough and the restrictions could shut poorer students out of subjects like the arts and humanities. ‘Nothing like’ previous maintenance grants The Government has indicated that the subject groups covered by the grant would be: computing; engineering; physics and astronomy; mathematical sciences, nursing and midwifery; allied health professions; chemistry; economics; health and social care; and architecture, building and planning. Maintenance grants were abolished a decade ago by the former Conservative government. At the time, students from families with incomes of up to £42,620 were eligible for grants, which tapered to a maximum of £3,387 a year for those with incomes of £25,000 or below. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank and a former government policy adviser on universities, said the grants were “better than nothing” but “not going to make much of a difference” to students. “By golly, are they a mouse of a policy,” he said. “What is being introduced is nothing like the historic maintenance grants that used to exist, or indeed the maintenance grants that still exist in places like Wales. “It’s a really small grant for a really small number of people studying courses the Government has favoured.” How the grants compare to other nations In the Welsh system, even students with household incomes of £59,200 or more are eligible for maintenance grants of up to £1,020. At £35,000 they get up to £6,535, and at £25,000 they get £8,814. The poorest students with household incomes of £18,370 or less receive up to£10,325 a year. In Northern Ireland, grants are issued to those with household incomes up to £41,065 – up to a maximum of £3,569 for families earning £19,203 or less. In Scotland, where there are no tuition fees for residents, bursaries of up to £2,000 are available. A Department for Education spokesperson said they set the eligibility threshold at £30,000 so that maintenance grants go to the students most in need. They added: “We’re also increasing maximum maintenance loans in line with inflation – with the highest levels of support targeted at students from lower-income households. We will continue to look for ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers.”