Proposed Student Funding Wales 2018-2019

Following the review led by Prof. Sir Ian Diamond, it is proposed to change the funding of university students in Wales in the academic year 2018-1019.

The tuition fee grant of £5,100 will be scrapped and course fees will be paid back with a loan which students will repay once they have graduated and started earning more than £21,000.

All students will get £1,000 a year plus a means-tested grant of up to £8,113 a year to help with living costs.

• Family income less than £18,370 would qualify for the maximum grant.
• Family income over £59,200 now (not the £80,000 proposed by the Diamond review) will only be eligible for the basic £1,000. These students will need to apply for loans to support their living costs.
• Full-time, part-time and post-graduate study would be considered equally and would have access to similar support

It is estimated that:

• Around a third of students would be entitled to the full grant.
• A student from a family on average income could receive around £7,000 a year.
• Less than a third will get the minimum of £1,000. 

Prof Diamond, vice-chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, said it would mean students from Wales would face a "significantly lower average level of debt on leaving university than those from England."


Source: BBC News website, 22 Nov. 2016 [Read in full.]