The Westminster government has announced an increase in hardship funding for students amid the cost-of-living crisis along with a 2.8 per cent uplift in maintenance loans, but the sector has warned that the latter is “disappointing” and amounts to a real-terms cut at a time of high inflation.
The government will provide an additional £15 million in hardship funding this financial year to help English universities provide extra support for students, building on £261 million already provided to the Office for Students for institutions’ hardship allocations.
The Department for Education also said it will increase maintenance loans for undergraduate and postgraduate students by 2.8 per cent for the 2023-24 academic year – well below the latest figures on the consumer price index rate of inflation, which stood at 10.7 per cent in November.
It also confirmed that the freeze in tuition fees at English universities would continue up to and including the 2024-25 academic year, a freeze that universities warn is severely eroding their funding.
