Ex-student loans head's concern over Wales finance shake-up

Concerns about the Student Loans Company's record in dealing with complex reforms have been raised by its former chairman, ahead of a major student finance shake-up in Wales.

From September 2018, Welsh students will be eligible for a maintenance grant rather than tuition fee help.

Sir Deian Hopkin said administrative problems have historically been part and parcel of introducing a new system.

But the SLC said it was "confident" it would be ready in time.

Following a major review of Student Finance, a report by Prof Ian Diamond recommended that the tuition fee grant was scrapped and replaced by support for living costs.

All Welsh students studying full time will be eligible for a minimum £1,000 maintenance grant and up to £8,100 a year for those studying outside London.

There will be similar support for part-time students, while changes to the package for postgraduates will be introduced from 2019.

Sir Deian, a former vice chancellor of London South Bank University, has welcomed the changes which he described as a "major step forward".

"It is means-tested and that's going to cause quite a lot of complications to the system because once you go to means testing you have to decide what families earn and that is a very murky business very often," he explained.

"That said, this has got to be a fairer system than actually prevailed in the past and certainly fairer than that which prevails in England."

But he said he was concerned that the SLC, which will administer the changes, has had difficulty introducing complex changes in the past.

"Historically, you have to say there is always an administrative problem and let's hope that the lessons of the past have been learnt," he said.

Sir Deian was interim chairman of the SLC in 2010 after he conducted a review into major failings at the organisation.

What do prospective students think?

Many sixth formers are currently making decisions about applications for university courses next year.

At Ysgol Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, speakers have come into the school to tell the students about the changes to student support.

Dafydd Walters is considering studying for a finance degree.

At open days in English universities he found there was little awareness of the changes to the Welsh system.

"I found they were confused," he said. "Not everybody knows what's going on."

Mared Owen has already applied to universities to study medicine.

She said changes to the type of support available seemed less significant when debt was inevitable at the end of a university degree.

"As a whole, students in my year, I think we are aware of the changes but we don't really care that much about it," she said.

"Because the debt will be there and we will have to pay it off whatever the information and the details of the type of debt that we'll have."

The SLC said it had a project in place to make the changes to the student finance system for Wales and "we are confident that we will be ready when the service launches next year".

A spokesman added: "SLC has a strong track record of successful delivery for Wales since we were asked to run the modernised service four years ago."

The Welsh Government said it was confident the SLC could deliver the reforms.

A spokesman said: "Our student finance system will be the most progressive and equitable in the UK and will provide a parity of support across levels and modes of study that is unmatched anywhere in the UK or the EU.

"We are confident that the Student Loans Company can deliver these reforms and will continue to work closely with them to make sure they are implemented successfully."