Tory loans pledge is aimed at Scots vote

The Scottish Conservative Party claims Scottish students in particular would benefit from the party's election pledge to raise the earnings threshold for loan repayments.

The Tories have promised to raise the threshold from £10,000 to £20,000. The Scottish Tories said this would be particularly important north of the border because of the Scottish Executive's "unjust graduate endowment plans". The proposed legislation adds the £2,000 graduate endowment contribution to student-loan repayments.

The Scottish Tories said that raising the loan repayment threshold would ensure that the threshold for paying the endowment was also raised. They are ruling out top-up fees under a new system of ring-fenced endowment funding for institutions. Graduates paying off loans would be given tax breaks for a decade. They claim that most would be better off under their restructured loans system.

The election manifesto commits the Scottish Conservatives to abolish tuition fees outright.