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Students celebrate end of 'tax on learning'
27/03/2008
Students joined Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop today in celebrating the end of the graduate endowment on April 1.
From that date, 50,000 students will benefit from no longer having to pay the £2,289 fee. Awaiting Royal Assent in the next few days, the Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill means that all current and future students, as well as those who graduated on or after April 1, 2007 will not have to pay the charge.
Speaking as she met students at Edinburgh University, Lifelong Learning Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop said:
"Scrapping the Graduate Endowment is scrapping a tax on learning.
"We believe access to education should be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay.
"Debt, and the fear of debt can be a real deterrent and can actually prevent some young people going to university.
"The removal of the graduate endowment fee is great news for current and future students and last year's graduates, helping to significantly reduce their debt burden.
"Our move to scrap the charge is a down-payment on tackling student debt, as two thirds of graduates can't afford to pay it and just add it to their student loan."
The graduate endowment fee was introduced for Scottish domiciled students and EU students entering a Scottish university from 2001-02.
It is a one-off payment on successful completion of a higher education course of three years or more. The first students became liable to pay the fee - currently £2,289 - on April 1, 2005.
Students could pay the fee in cash, add it to their loan or use a mixture of both. Around 70 per cent of graduates have been adding fees to loans each year.
It is estimated that around £12.7 million has been paid back in cash from the three cohorts of graduates liable to pay the fee, with £26.3 million being added to loans. Of this, £26.3 million, only £57,000 has been returned to the taxpayer.
Royal Assent is expected for the Bill over the next few days.