Personal Blogs

Dear Raimondas,

Thank you for contacting me about support for students.

High living costs are putting pressure on student budgets, affecting their learning and wellbeing. According to the Office for National Statistics, 29% of students were skipping non-mandatory lectures to save money on transport and nearly 50% said they were “very worried” about the cost of living.

On 11 January, the Government announced that maintenance loans in the 2023/24 academic year will increase by 2.8%. Yet, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this will still be much lower in real terms than in 2020/21, and the additional £15 billion of funding announced to help universities provide extra support to students is estimated to come to around £10 per person. I worry universities are having to do more and more to help students, with little support from Ministers.

Analysis from the rental website StuRents last year found a third of student accommodation cost more than the average maintenance loan. Ministers have committed to introducing better protections for tenants renting in the private sector, including measures to limit rent increases to once a year. However, I am concerned that this does not offer effective protection against unaffordable rent rises and the Government is not introducing reforms quickly enough.

Affordable public transport also helps tackle costs of living, but towns and cities have had to accept rising fares and cuts to routes for too long in my view. I want to see local communities back in control of public transport to lower fares and improve services, following the path set by our brilliant Mayors, such as in Greater Manchester, where young people aged 16 to 18 can currently travel for free on most local bus services.

I support calls for a Take Back Control Bill to provide the basis for the largest transfer of power from central Government to local people, including powers over public transport and greater control over skills funding.

Further education is crucial to improving skills and driving growth, but I am concerned it is not a priority for Ministers with per student funding for 16- to 18-year-olds in further education colleges falling by 14% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2019/20.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Feryal Clark MP