While it must be applauded that the Conservatives are going to pay college fees plus £5,000 towards living costs of our fallen heroes it is only small fry in terms of higher education commitments.
This would lift (at an average of 2.4 children) 1411 children for the 558 fallen soldiers killed in service since 1990 out of tuition fees. But the Liberal Democrats remain committed to scrapping tuition fees for all first Higher Education degree qualifications. Further than that the Lib Dems will offer full funding for off-the-job training costs for apprenticeships, improve access to HE for under represented groups, and reform the bursary scheme more fairly across universities.
So while the war heroes memorial bursary that the Tories are going set up is good, it only goes so far as far as fairness goes. The Lib Dems will lift all students out of the first need of this scheme. The second part is a worthy cause for the sons and daughters of our noble dead, something that is due consideration.
Is this an England-only new funding for university scholarships to the children of fallen trrops? The grants will be paid into the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) - http://www.hefce.ac.uk/
ReplyDeleteIs Cameron going to provide grant money to the Scottish Funding Council, the mirror council in Scotland ?
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
ReplyDeleteAlena
http://grantsforeducation.info
Cheers Andrea.
ReplyDeleteIt will give my age away if I say I was one of the students protesting for "Grants not loans" when the subject of loans was first being considered.
I only wish I could find the letter I wrote to my then MP to check how prophetic some of the issues me as a mere Economics undergraduate had spotted with the entire scheme. I fear many of them have come to pass, if memory serves.