Postgraduate loans to be extended

Lecture hall by Ian Barbour

Postgraduate students will be able to borrow more towards the costs of their study in the next academic year, the Scottish Government has announced.

Current loans of up to £7,900 to cover fees and living costs will be extended to £10,000 from 2017-18.

The loan will comprise of £5,500 for fees and £4,500 for living costs.

It will also be extended to cover all postgraduate courses up to full Masters level, where currently only selected postgraduate diplomas are covered.

The plans exceed recommendations from a review led by Professor Bryan MacGregor of Aberdeen University, who advised a £9,000 loan.

Full time EU students will continue to be eligible to apply for the tuition fee loan for the academic year 2017-18, the Scottish Government announced.

Vonnie Sandlan, president of NUS Scotland said: “The introduction of increased fee and living cost support will go a long way to opening up postgraduate education to more students who will be able to access that study without having to struggle to find thousands of pounds in upfront fees.

“Given everything we’ve achieved on making access to undergraduate education fairer, it’s only right that we’re now turning our attention to making access to postgraduate study fairer.”

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “Now this change has been made, it will be important to put energy into the drive to make Scots aware of the new support system and the opportunities that this creates, both for graduates and for many people in the workforce who want to up skill or reskill to support career progression.”