Student grants will remove barriers to university, says Dudley MP
A Black Country MP says the reintroduction of students grants will help thousands of working-class people access higher and further education without being held back by financial barriers.
Sonia Kumar, MP for Dudley, welcomed Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson's announcement that targeted, means-tested maintenance grants would be reintroduced, some 27 years after they were abolished for all but the poorest of students.
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Miss Kumar said the move would ensure that young people from low-income households could afford to study, train, and gain the qualifications needed to power Britain’s future economy.
The new maintenance grants will support tens of thousands of students, including those on university degrees and technical qualifications, incluidng Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education.
The grants will be funded through a new levy on international students.
Miss Kumar said: "Access to our colleges and universities shouldn’t just be for a wealthy few.
"The Tories scrapped maintenance grants and kicked away the ladder from working-class kids across Dudley, and I’ve heard time and again from families who felt their children couldn’t afford to carry on studying.
"That stops now. Labour is ambitious for all our young people, no matter their background. These new grants will make a real difference for Dudley families — breaking down barriers and opening up opportunity for the next generation.”
Miss Phillipson added: “Tories treated our universities as a political battleground, not a public good. Labour is putting them back in the service of working-class young people. The time at college or university should be spent learning or training."
Means-tested grants were freely available to most students until 1998, when the Blair government restricted them to the poorest students. David Cameron's government abolished them altogether for students enrolling after 2016.
