Review of student grants in Scotland

From Adventures In Evidence

"The review has proved itself to be rather fonder of making superlative comparative claims about the funding position in Scotland than in presenting the evidence needed to support them..."


"Whatever explains it, the result is the same: a mild air of triumphalism which obscures hard-to-defend elements of the system, in this particular case, that some of the most financial vulnerable and disadvantaged students in Scotland are given even less grant and more debt than others..."

"Thus, to repeat, we give those coming into HE from the lowest income households only £1,875, or even just £875, in non-repayable grants and ask them to borrow the rest of what they need to live on. We could easily give them more grant, but we prefer to use that money to keep the children of the professional classes out of any debt whatsoever for fees (and often, therefore, any debt at all). And we use UK comparisons to reassure ourselves – apparently – that that’s OK. `Best`, even."

https://adventuresinevidence.com/2017/12/03/student-support-review-7-more-trouble-with-comparisons/