Peterborough Educated Labour Candidate Ed Murphy encourages more students to seek university places

A campaign to help parents get their kids ready for university this autumn is being supported today by Ed Murphy, Labour Candidate for Peterborough. Ed is also encouraging people to check out courses on offer at the new Peterborough university centre – a general open day is being held on Monday 19 May from 5pm to 8pm and a special degree open evening takes place on Wednesday 21 May starting at 6pm.

The Government is providing more financial help than ever before to assist young people from lower and middle income families to aim for university. 

More and more parents appreciate the opportunities that a degree can bring to their children. That’s why the campaign aims to let them know about the additional help on offer.

From September this year, one third of all eligible students in England entering higher education are expected to be entitled to a full non-repayable maintenance grant worth £2,835 and another one third are expected to be entitled to a partial grant.

 Local resident Ed Murphy who attended secondary school in Peterborough said; “I’m supporting this campaign to raise awareness of financial support parents in Peterborough can get from the government. Remember, we are now giving 2/3 of students non repayable grants so people should to apply for the support they’re entitled to.

We want the best for all our students. That's why so many parents encourage their children to go to university. In fact, recent research suggests that 91% of parents and grandparents want their children to go to university. We need to ensure that there is a local university option with the right courses as well as support for students who study away from home.

A university degree is worth well over £100,000 (after tax at today’s prices) more than stopping at A-Levels. But although it's the right thing to do, it can be tough. That's why the government is providing more help than ever before.”

Students entering university this year will get a further helping hand once they finish their studies and consider buying a house or starting a family.  All students starting a higher education course in 2008/09 or later, taking out their first student loan and having a repayment start date of April 2012 or later will be entitled to a repayment holiday of up to five years, provided they remain in their course until April 2011 and enter into repayment for the first time in April 2012.

For more information contact Ed Murphy Tel   0777 9333 1920

Questions & Answers

How do students thinking of going to university find out about what financial assistance might be available to them?

More details can be found at www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance, where students and parents can find detailed information relating to their circumstances.

Full information about financial and other support for students is also available on other pages of Directgov (www.direct.gov.uk/) and through the learndirect  (www.learndirect.co.uk/) and nextstep (www.nextstep.org.uk/) services.

Students will graduate with unmanageable debts?

No they won’t. Contrary to media scare stories, the average debt of a graduate is £15,000. Repayment is dependent on earnings, not on the size of the debt, and they do not pay anything until they earn over £15,000. If a graduate’s earnings fall below £15,000 they will not have to repay their student loan until their earnings rise again.

In addition, the new opportunity for a “repayment holiday” of up to 5 years gives graduates flexibility over repayments. This will be particularly helpful at times of significant outgoings, for example buying their first house or starting a family.

What can a student expect to earn after graduating?

The latest estimate for students who graduated in 2006 was that they were earning a median starting salary of around £18,000. The £18,000 figure is representative of all jobs that graduates enter, including part time and temporary jobs.

Someone earning £18,000 can expect to pay back just £22.50 per month.

Going to University is one of the best investments anyone can make – over the course of a working life the average graduate earns comfortably over £100,000 more in today’s valuation, net of tax, than someone with A-Levels who does not go to university.

Why is the cap so high? People on £60,000 don’t need any help?

As well as helping the least affluent, we are supporting hardworking families who are doing the right thing by encouraging their children to go to university.

Is this display of generosity now to lessen the blow of lifting the cap on tuition fees?

No. The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, has explicitly ruled out taking any decisions on tuition fees until the outcome of the independent review in 2009. The HE sector will be able to play an active role in this review.

Why are you raising the upper threshold for students eligible for a partial grant?

Eligibility for maintenance grants is being extended to many more students from families on modest and middle incomes. As well as supporting the least affluent, we are supporting hardworking families who are doing the right thing by encouraging their children to go to university.

The government hasn’t done enough to get more students from low income backgrounds to go to university?

The Labour government is committed to ensuring that students from all backgrounds are able to benefit from university. We believe that talent and hard work, not which school you went to, should determine your success. Under Labour:

The proportion of students from low participation neighbourhoods has increase by 2 percentage points between 1997 and 2005.

 We are investing £260m in Aimhigher over the next three years – an initiative which aims to raise aspirations of lower income students and to raise their attainment to encourage them to achieve a university place.

We have announced the Aimhigher Associates scheme which will see 500 students supporting over 20 thousand young people aged 14 upwards to aspire and apply to university.

We have launched a prospectus to help universities form long term structural links with schools. These links will drive up standards across the board, raise aspirations of parents, teachers and students, and support young people applying to university

I'm currently a student, why can't I get access to the new student support package? Why haven't you given this support to current students?

Changes in the financial package for students are usually applied to new students, with existing students continuing on the same terms that they started on, right through to the end of their course.
 
Applying this principle means that student can plan for their studies with confidence and certainty about the type of support they will get, and that it will not be disrupted by changes in policy.
 
The fundamental changes to the system which we introduced in 2006 offer a very attractive support package which continues to be available to students already in the system.