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Graduate endowment to be scrapped MSPs vote to scrap endowment fee
(1 day later)
MSPs are to vote later on government plans to scrap the graduate endowment for higher education students. Students will no longer have to pay the graduate endowment fee when they finish university, after MSPs voted to abolish the charge.
Ministers said that scrapping the £2,289 charge would help relieve financial pressures facing graduates. Holyrood voted by 67 to 61 in favour of scrapping the one-off charge of £2,289.
Labour and the Conservatives have opposed the move in the past, arguing the £17m cost could be better spent. The vote means current students and those who graduated last year will not have to pay the fee.
It is thought parliament will approve the plans but Labour and the Tories hope to win backing for an independent commission on university funding. Labour and the Conservatives voted against abolition, after they failed to force the Scottish Government to set up a review into university funding.
'Key concessions' Amendments calling for an independent commission were defeated by 63 votes to 65.
The SNP's election promise to scrap the graduate endowment won the support of the Liberal Democrats. Students had gathered outside the Scottish Parliament earlier on Thursday, calling on MSPs to back the plans.
Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop previously said the average student today left university with debts of £11,000. The bill was supported by the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, Margo Macdonald and one Labour MSP, Elaine Smith.
She said fear of large debts was stopping some from pursuing higher education. The graduate endowment fee was an inefficient tax Fiona HyslopEducation Secretary
Liberal Democrat education spokesman Jeremy Purvis said: "Students will not forgive the Conservative and Labour parties if they vote against scrapping the graduate endowment. After they were approved, Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said it was "great news" for students.
"Liberal Democrats have worked constructively in parliament to secure key concessions, such as the statutory guarantee that there would be no reduction in the amount of money available to poorer students for grants." All the other Labour MSPs and the Conservatives argued that the £17m cost could be better spent.
Conservative lifelong learning spokesman Murdo Fraser said: "We need a fully independent review with the freedom and the courage to ask the tough questions and find these long-term solutions. Approximately 50,000 students will benefit from the abolition.
"Merely abolishing the graduate endowment in isolation is not enough. This will not solve the problems." The endowment fee was introduced in 2001, after the abolition of upfront tuition fees.
But about 70% of graduates have simply added it on to their student loan, as they do not have the funds to pay it.
After the bill was passed, Ms Hyslop said: "We believe access to education should be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay.
"Today's removal of the graduate endowment fee is great news for current and future students and last year's graduates, helping to significantly reduce their debt burden."
The education secretary described the abolition of the fee as a "down payment" on plans to tackle student debt.
'Failed miserably'
The SNP had pledged to ditch student debt in its election manifesto and Ms Hyslop added: "We believe that debt, and the fear of debt, can be a real deterrent and can actually prevent some young people going to university."
She described scrapping the fee as the "first stage of our plans".
Ms Hyslop also claimed that taxpayers would benefit from the abolition, as well as students.
She said: "The graduate endowment fee was an inefficient tax.
"Most students increased their student loan to pay it and, due to the inefficiency of the system, only two-thirds of this income was then returned to the public purse."
But Labour education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin claimed ministers had "failed miserably" to produce persuasive evidence that scrapping the charge would increase the numbers going to university.
She also said abolishing the endowment would not tackle student poverty, arguing that the government should instead be doing more to support students from poorer backgrounds during their studies.
The Conservative deputy leader, Murdo Fraser, backed Ms Brankin's call for an independent review.