§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science on what factors he bases his conclusion that the approximate cost of reducing the age of independence in respect of university students from 25 years to 21 years would be around £68 million.
§ Mr. Walden£68 million is an approximate estimate of the cost in 1985–86 of reducing the age of independence to 21 for all mandatory award holders. It is based on an estimate of the number of dependent mandatory award holders in England and Wales aged 21 to 24 at about 100,000 and of the average net loss of parental contributions assessed in respect of students at about £680.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to introduce into the procedure of grant assessment a system for calculating the cost of living to university students who as part of their degree course are required to spend one year abroad in a high-cost country; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldenThe present method of assessing the mandatory grant payable to students already makes provision for those required to spend a year in a country with a high cost of living. Consideration is, however, being given to changing the present system, without increasing its overall cost, in order to make additional provision available in respect of countries with especially high costs.