When ministers in England respond to a question on the state of student financial support, they tend to include a reference to support on offer directly from universities.
When, for example, Robert Halfon announced his miserley 2.3 per cent uplift to the maximum maintenance loan back in January, the press release informed readers that “universities are responsible” for ensuring students who need help get the support they need, including through their own hardship funds, or through bursaries and scholarships:
I’m really pleased to see that so many universities are already stepping up efforts to support their students through a variety of programmes. These schemes have already helped students up and down the country and I urge anyone who is worried about their circumstances to speak to their university.
In fact ever since the introduction of tuition fees into England’s system, there has been an assumption that at least some of the money should be spent on student financial support over and above that provided by the national statutory schemes.
