7. CONCLUSION
In summary then, this Government believes that loans are wrong for Scotland and should be replaced by grants. Due to the restrictions on us, we cannot do this immediately, but have set out £30 million to begin this next phase of the transition.
That said, we appreciate the arguments made by students and others, that there is a case for the overall amount of student support to be increased, especially in light of the current financial pressures which have recently emerged. Therefore, we would welcome views from a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that this significant investment is used to best effect by benefiting those students most in need.
The options presented raise a number of other important issues such as how we support independent and dependent students, how we support learners in college and university and how we ensure students continue to have an adequate level of support that is affordable to maintain. It is important that these are explored further during the consultation process.
By presenting possible options for servicing debt, we also hope to explore what our funding priorities should be in future as we continue to work under the financial and political constraints we have inherited as part of the devolution settlement.
Question
Overall, based on the options and issues presented in this paper, we would welcome your views on what our funding priorities should be for the £30 million pounds available in 2010-11 and in future years.