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Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2009-10
27/10/2010
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published statistics on Higher Education Student Support in Scotland in 2009-10.
These figures provide information on support provided or assessed by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to higher education students in Scotland and elsewhere in academic years 2000-01 to 2009-10.
The statistics in this release supersede those published by Scotland's Chief Statistician on November 18 2009.
Main Findings include:
- Between academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10 the level of total support administered by SAAS increased by 8.3 per cent (or £39.8 million) from £482.6 million to £522.4 million. This was mainly due to increases in fee support. The number of students supported increased by 4.7 per cent (or 5,835) from 124,845 in 2008-09 to 130,680 in 2009-10
- When adjusted for inflation, the real-terms increase in total support administered by SAAS between 2008-09 and 2009-10 was 6.6 per cent. All other figures in this release are in cash terms
- The number of students receiving non-repayable awards has increased by 5.7 per cent (or 3,280) since 2008-09. This increase is slightly greater than the overall increase in student numbers. This is the first increase since 2005-06. The amount paid out increased by 6.2 per cent (or £6.5 million) from £105.0 million in 2008-09 to £111.5 million in 2009-10
- Fee payments (including fee loans) increased by 12.1 per cent (or £23.1 million) from £190.6 million in 2008-09 to £213.7 million in 2009-10. This is due to an increase in student numbers receiving tuition fees and the increased fee rates introduced for new entrants in 2006-07 working their way through the system. The overall number of students receiving fee support (including fee loans) has increased by 5.3 per cent (or 6,285) from 118,055 in 2008-09, to 124,340 in 2009-10
- The value of loan authorisations increased by 5.5 per cent (or £10.2 million) from £187.0 million in 2008-09 to £197.2 million in 2009-10. The number of students receiving loan authorisations increased by 2.5 per cent (or 1,905) from 77,170 to 79,075. The increase in the number of students receiving loan authorisations was the first since 2002-03 and reflected an increase in both income and non-income assessed loan authorisations
- The proportion of students receiving loan authorisations has decreased from 61.8 per cent in 2008-09 to 60.5 per cent in 2009-10. The amount of money paid out in loans as a proportion of the total student support administered by SAAS has also decreased from 38.8 per cent in 2008-09 to 37.7 in 2009-10
- Fee payments accounted for 40.9 per cent of mainstream support administered by SAAS in 2009-10, loan authorisations for 37.7 per cent and award payments for 21.3 per cent
- The number of EU students receiving support from SAAS increased by 15.5 per cent (or 1,475) from 9,545 in 2008-09 to 11,020 in 2009-10. The number of EU students receiving support from SAAS has increased by 183.3 per cent since 2000-01. EU domiciled students receive fee support only. In academic year 2009-10, 8.4 per cent of those supported by SAAS were EU domiciles with the remaining 91.6 per cent Scottish domiciled
- In 2009-10, 78.6 per cent of students who received SAAS support were studying at a Higher Education Institution. Almost three quarters of the total number of students who received SAAS support, 73.4 per cent, were studying for a first degree
- The number of students studying at Colleges increased from 25,495 in 2008-09 to 27,735 in 2009-10 - an increase of 8.8 per cent. The number of students at Higher Education Institutions increased by 3.6 per cent from 99,140 in 2008-09 to 102,715 in 2009-10
- Young Students' Bursary award payments have increased by 7.2 per cent (or £4.7 million) from £64.5 million in 2008-09 to £69.1 million in 2009-10. Travel Expense award payments increased by 12.9 per cent (or £2.1 million) from £16.6 million in 2008-09 to £18.7 million in 2009-10
- In 2009-10, 4,275 students were in receipt of Disabled Student's Allowance payments totalling £8.9 million. This is an increase of 5.2 per cent in terms of students and 0.6 per cent in terms of amounts paid out since 2008-09. The number of recipients and amounts paid out have increased in each year since 2000-01
- In 2009-10 an average of £3,997 of support was administered by SAAS to each student. This support comprised of non-repayable awards, fees payments and loan authorisations. The amount of money individual students receive depends on entitlement, what they choose to apply for, and the various support packages SAAS provide or authorise