Tuition Fees

HC Deb 27 November 1997 vol 301 cc643-4W

Mr. Welsh

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assistance will be given to students beginning courses in 1998 lasting longer than three years towards the cost of their tuition fees for the additional years. [17866]

Dr. Howells

Under our plans, students from lower-income families resident in England will have the whole of their tuition fees paid for them in the fourth as in the previous three years, whilst others from middle-income families will have part of their fees paid, depending on an assessment of their parents' spouses' or own income. Medical and dental students in their fifth and subsequent years will have their fees paid.

Mr. Welsh

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment at what(a) net and (b) gross parental or household income level English students will be required to pay full university tuition fees. [17862]

Dr. Howells

The rates for student awards and loans, and the associated contribution scales, for academic year 1998–99 have not yet been determined.

It is therefore not possible at this stage to give precise figures about contributions to tuition fees in the 1998–99 academic year. However, had tuition fee contributions been in effect in academic year 1997–98, English students with a residual (ie net) parental income after allowable deductions of about £26,500 would have been assessed as due to pay the full £1,000.

It is not practicable to give precise individual figures for the equivalent gross income at which the full £1,000 fee will become payable in 1998–99, as this will depend on the circumstances of the family concerned. However, because it may not be immediately clear to prospective students and their parents what is meant by "residual income," we have illustrated the sort of gross family income above which the full £1,000 will be payable. In 1998–99 it will be about £35,000 a year.

Mr. Welsh

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of financing tuition fees for the fourth year of study for English domiciled students studying at Scottish universities. [17861]

Dr. Howells

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 18 November 1997,Official Report, column 162.