Cubie takes broad view of student funding

Scotland's independent inquiry into student finance is to ask qualified young people who opted not to go into higher education why they made that decision.

The inquiry, chaired by lawyer Andrew Cubie, is commissioning discussion groups across the country to discover young people's attitudes to debt, parental contributions, loans and grants. It also wants to find out whether there is a difference in attitude between male and female students and students from particular ethnic groups.

Committee secretary David Wilson said: "We're trying to get inside students' minds. It will be a sophisticated and detailed piece of research, covering the full range of different types of student as well as graduates and potential students. One of the groups we're interested in is those around 19 years old who could have gone to university but chose not to."

The Cubie committee is also commissioning academics to assess the impact of student finance on wider access and to analyse Scottish data from national surveys.

On a broader front, academics at Heriot-Watt University are investigating the impact of graduate debt on the first-time buyers' housing market, while Glasgow University studies have revealed that many pupils from poorer backgrounds misunderstand what entitlements and commitments they would have as students. "It is essential that the committee has access to the latest research on all matters related to student finance to enable it to develop its own recommendations," Mr Wilson said.

According to the business committee of Edinburgh University's general council, the Scottish system of student support "remains among the most generous in the world". But its submission to Cubie calculates that an Edinburgh student on the maximum loan has Pounds 25.40 a week for living expenses, well below the Pounds 40.70 jobseeker's allowance for 18 to 24-year-olds.

The council said its preferred option would be maintenance grants, with state-paid tuition fees. Second would be a loans system, with state-paid fees. It doubts whether the salary differential for graduates is as great as in other countries, and therefore questions the justification for contributions from students.