Question reference: S5W-05882
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 December 2016
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 January 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Student Awards Agency For Scotland (SAAS) loans are based on parental income and what criteria SAAS used to set the current bands.
Answer
The level of loan support a student can access is dependent on their household, rather than parental, income. The persons' whose household income SAAS can take into account is laid out in legislation and is comprised of the student and (if appropriate) their parents/step-parents or spouse/partner.
Household income brackets were introduced as part of the simplification review of the student support package in 2013-2014 to enable the Scottish Government to focus support on the lowest income households via the minimum income guarantee of £7,000 (now £7,625).
Before implementing the new system, the Government consulted widely and took views on design from a number of key partners and stakeholders including the NUS Scotland.