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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Welsh top-up fees grant scrapped | Welsh top-up fees grant scrapped |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A grant which off-sets the cost of student top-up fees in Wales will be phased out from September 2010. | A grant which off-sets the cost of student top-up fees in Wales will be phased out from September 2010. |
| Education Minister Jane Hutt said more help would be offered to students from lower income backgrounds. | Education Minister Jane Hutt said more help would be offered to students from lower income backgrounds. |
| At the moment students from Wales studying in Wales receive a grant of £1,940 regardless of their background. | At the moment students from Wales studying in Wales receive a grant of £1,940 regardless of their background. |
| Conservatives said they wanted assurances the ending of the tuition free grant would be a "barrier to students fulfilling their potential". | |
| Ms Hutt said the plans meant more students would be able to access higher education and there would be a "level playing field for all Welsh students, wherever they study". | |
| Ms Hutt told Welsh Assembly Members that £44m would be redirected towards increasing the assembly learning grant, a means-tested grant to help students' with their living costs, from £2,906 to £5,000. | Ms Hutt told Welsh Assembly Members that £44m would be redirected towards increasing the assembly learning grant, a means-tested grant to help students' with their living costs, from £2,906 to £5,000. |
| Ms Hutt said the family income threshold would rise by £10,000 to ensure that Welsh undergraduates were not worse off than those in England. | Ms Hutt said the family income threshold would rise by £10,000 to ensure that Welsh undergraduates were not worse off than those in England. |
| The minister also announced plans to write off student loan debts of up to £1,500 from 2010 along with a scheme to encourage graduates to work in Wales. | |
| She said that by 2015 higher education institutions in Wales would be receiving an extra £31m a year, including funding for bursaries and scholarships. | She said that by 2015 higher education institutions in Wales would be receiving an extra £31m a year, including funding for bursaries and scholarships. |
| Current students will continue to be entitled to the tuition fee grant until they finish their studies. | Current students will continue to be entitled to the tuition fee grant until they finish their studies. |
| Conservatives urged the assembly government to put higher education "on a firm financial footing". | |
| 'Debt generation' | |
| Tory education spokesman Paul Davies accused Welsh minsters of failing to fund higher education properly "for far too long... allowing a significant funding gap to grow between Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom". | |
| "We are concerned that unless addressed urgently money could become a barrier to learning in Wales," he said. | |
| "Following today's statement questions also remain about expanding access to part-time learning and whether enough money is being set aside for the student debt right-off scheme," Mr Davies added. | |
| Liberal Democrat Jenny Randerson calculated that "funding for students to get to university is being slashed by approximately 40%. | |
| "Labour's debt generation has just become Labour and Plaid's debt generation," she said. | |
| "There are some measures that are welcome, but as a whole, the Welsh Lib Dems cannot support this package, which sees top-up fees arrive in Wales." |