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Number of Students Receiving Full Support

Source: Students receiving support 2006-2007: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS).

Note: Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

Students receiving full support have been defined as those who are:

1. Receiving the maximum Young Student Bursary or

2. The maximum Young Student Outside Scotland Bursary or

3. The maximum Students Outside Scotland Bursary or

4. Aged 25 or over and are receiving maximum maintenance loan or

5. Aged less than 25, are exempt from parental or spousal contributions to their support and are receiving maximum maintenance loan.

Nursing and Midwifery Bursary Scheme students are not included in the numbers receiving support from SAAS. Academic year 2006-07 is the latest for which data from SAAS is available.

In the response to your written question S3W-13913 on 17 June 2008 it was highlighted that the income thresholds for bursaries, loans and additional grants from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) are up rated on an annual basis based on the underlying rate of inflation (the Retail Price Index excluding Mortgage Interest Payments or RPIX). As set out in the answer to S3W-14480 on 17 July 2008, we currently have no plans to stop using this method to uprate the threshold on a yearly basis.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at .

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Research-related funding for Scottish institutions also comes from a number of other sources in the public, private and third sectors. For example, the seven UK Research Councils fund research in higher education institutions (HEIs). Some Scottish Government Directorates also fund research directly, a small proportion of which ends up in HEIs.

Research-related funding for Scottish institutions also comes from a number of other sources in the public, private and third sectors. For example, the seven UK Research Councils fund research in higher education institutions (HEIs). Research Council funding is not included in the table. Some Scottish Government Directorates also fund research directly, a small proportion of which ends up in HEIs. Not all of these figures are held centrally and they are therefore also not included in the table.

Source for all tables: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)

All student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five. Monetary amounts are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

A full-time/part-time split is not available for postgraduate students.

Although the average support for part-time undergraduate students is around £1,100 in each year, the majority of such students (72-73%) receive £500 in financial support from SAAS. The average however includes the Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA) payable to some students.

“Support” refers to tuition fees (or tuition fee loans for those studying elsewhere in the UK) and/or awards and/or maintenance loans.

These tables do not include students on the Nursing and Midwifery Bursary Scheme. Academic year 2006-07 is latest for which data from SAAS is available.

Spending plans for the three financial years 2008-9 to 2010-11 are set out in the Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007, table 22.04 published on the internet at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/13092240/0.

The figures include the new support for part-time students to be introduced from autumn 2008 at a cost of £12/£13/£13 million for the three years of the plan. Projected spend is not disaggregated for the categories requested.

The SFC does not publish any information on funding per student at higher education institutions (HEIs). The SFC’s teaching funding allocation method distributes funding according to Units of Teaching Resource, reflecting relative costs of delivering different subjects. There is no standard rate of per-student funding.

Indicative information on the number of funded places in HEIs, with per-subject and overall levels of funding can be found in table A2a of the SFC’s Circular SFC/10/2008 (Main grants in support of teaching and research for higher education institutions for academic year 2008-09):

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While this shows the relative allocations to fund undergraduate and postgraduate provision, this is on a full-time equivalent basis and does not demonstrate how funding is allocated within individual institutions to support the range of full-time and part-time provision.

Additionally, the gross funding figures include the tuition fee element of funding which is not paid by SFC. We are unable to disaggregate this on a per student basis as different students pay different fees depending on their domicile.

The SFC does publish performance indicators for colleges, which note colleges’ total income and a breakdown of this income and total expenditure. It also provides the actual Weighted Student Units of Measure (WSUMs) delivered, but not the number of students. WSUMs reflect the relative costs of delivering different subjects

The most recent performance indicators for colleges can be found at:

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SFC does not publish any information on spend per student at higher education institutions (HEIs). The SFC’s teaching funding allocation method distributes funding according to Units of Teaching Resource, reflecting relative costs of delivering different subjects. There is no standard rate of per-student funding.

Indicative information on the number of funded places in HEIs, with per-subject and overall levels of funding can be found in Table A2a of the SFC’s Circular SFC/10/2008 (Main grants in support of teaching and research for higher education institutions for academic year 2008-09):

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For both colleges and HEIs teaching funding is also provided on a full time equivalent (FTE) basis and institutions use this to fund both part-time and full-time provision.

Irrespective of how earnings may rise in the next three years, the number of Scottish students receiving support other than non means tested maintenance loans would be unaffected as under current funding rules all eligible students are entitled to tuition fees (or tuition fee loans if they are studying elsewhere in the UK) which are not means tested. The table below shows the number of Scottish students receiving Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) support other than non means tested maintenance loans in 2006-07 by parental/spousal income. The table also shows how these data would look if average earnings rose by 3.1% (figure based on growth in average median weekly earnings in the year to April 2007) in each of the subsequent three years.

Source: SAAS.

Notes:

Constant Student Numbers are assumed. Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Income bands are based on residual parental or, in the case of students who are married or in a civil partnership, spousal income. This is income after deductions allowed by SAAS have been subtracted.

This table does not include students on the Nursing and Midwifery Bursary Scheme.