Students fear ‘ticking time bomb’ as payments end
DESPERATE students in Glasgow are calling for better financial support during the coronavirus crisis.
The last instalment of student loan payments for Scottish students was last week.
Many are now facing a devastating loss of income, being left unable to work summer jobs in bars, clubs and restaurants or travel to find seasonal work elsewhere.
They are also not eligible for Universal Credit.
Blair, a 21-year-old law student at Glasgow University, pictured, told us: “Young people and students are being left out of the response to Covid-19. Unlike landlords and big businesses, we’re being left behind without support.
“Students have already received their last payment from SAAS until September, but we can’t apply for Universal Credit and it’s almost impossible to find a job.
“If they can find the money to support landlords and shareholders, why can’t they find the money to support students and properly fund our universities and colleges?”
The question of student funding was raised at First Minister’s Questions by Bob Doris, SNP MSP for Maryhill and Springburn, last week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government had released emergency funds to support students throughout summer, but the distribution of the funds was left to university discretion.
She said: “The emergency funds that have been made available to universities and colleges can be used to support students during the summer up to the end of July, in recognition options.
“Universities and colleges will receive a further instalment of higher education funds in August; it will be a matter for each university and college to determine the amount that can be awarded, but the previous maximum limits have been removed.
Although there are government funds promised to Scottish universities, Joe, a 26-year-old Glasgow University student from Firhill, says to leave universities with the responsibility of distributing these funds is a “mistake”.
Instead, he argues students should be allowed access to income over the summer months rather than emergency or discretionary funds, which are already swamped.
Joe said: “It’s important students have some kind of access to an income over summer, not just access to emergency or discretionary funds, but access to something akin to Universal Credit or a universal basic income.
“I’m not sure if using the universities’ hardship funds to disseminate funds to students is appropriate. SAAS is a government agency perfectly positioned to administer what could be as simple as carrying on SAAS payments for three additional months as a one-off, even possibly at a reduced rate, in order to provide some kind of financial stability.
“Universities are going to need huge amounts of support financially during and after this crisis and to add the extra onerous procedure of also administering support to students financially during the summer months I would think is a mistake.
“I would like to see the government and SAAS come together to provide support, independent of the institutions, direct to students.” of reduced employment
MSP Doris and Patrick Grady MP are now writing to the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ask for a relaxation of Universal Credit criteria.
Doris told us: “For many students, summer employment is a basic necessity to get by. Such opportunities have pretty much disappeared due to the Covid-19 crisis.
“It is therefore right to look again at student support more generally including allowing students access to Universal Credit and the benefits system over the coming summer months. We intend making powerful representations to the UK Government on that basis.”
Grady added: “Bob and I will be writing to the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions next week, calling for students to be able to apply for Universal Credit if they are unable to find work during the summer months.
“The SNP has repeatedly called for the introduction of a universal basic income, or other form of minimum income guarantee, to support everyone in society through the crisis and stop people, especially those in vulnerable and low-income groups such as students, from falling through the cracks.”
NUS Scotland president Liam McCabe said: “As the summer approaches we are sitting on a ticking time bomb of student deprivation.
“The situation is dire, and we must not end up in a position where students are driven out of education and into poverty.”