§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact on(a) mature students and (b) part-time students of (i) the proposed changes in tuition fees and (ii) contingent loan repayments. [143106]
§ Alan Johnson[holding answer 9 December 2003]: Mature students will be treated in the same way as younger students both as far as the proposed changes to tuition fees and to income contingent loans are concerned: where they are studying full time, up front fees would be abolished and they will be subject to variable fees of between £0 and £3,000 per year from 2006; re-payable following graduation and for any loans they take out with the Student Loans Company, they will benefit from the raising of the income threshold above which repayments are made from £10,000 to £15,000 from 2005. Part time students are already subject to variable fees: where they have taken out loans with the Student Loans Company, they too will benefit from the raising of the income threshold from £10,000 to £15,000 from 2005. We are introducing a new package of support for part time students in 2004/05, including a grant for fees of up to £575 and a course grant, neither of which are repayable. Mature students are also particularly likely to benefit from the new HE Grant of £1,000, being introduced from 2004/05. We expect around a third of all those getting the full grant of £1,000 to be independent, despite such students making up only around 15 per cent of the total student population.