To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address rising house prices and their impact on university students.
Answered on
16 March 2015
The Government does monitor student income and expenditure which helps us to understand how students manage their finances while studying in higher education. It has been a longstanding principle of student support that grants and loans for living costs are generally paid as a contribution towards a student’s living costs rather than to cover them in their entirety.
Eligible students attending full-time undergraduate courses that are designated for student support can apply for fully means-tested Maintenance Grants and loans to help with living costs, 35% of which are based on a student’s household income. Maximum loans for living costs (sometimes known as maintenance loans) have been increased by 3.34% (using the forecast Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments [RPI-X] for 2015/16)