Commenting as he signed up to the NUS pledge ‘overstretched and overdrawn’, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott MSP said:

“Lord Sutherland’s call to reintroduce tuition fees will have sent a cold shiver down the spines of many students who are already struggling to afford university and college.

“Scottish Ministers need to get behind the fight for better support for our students.

“That’s why I have signed up to the NUS pledge and why the Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign for a better deal for Scotland’s students.

“We recognise that some students are now in financial dire straits and are the only party calling for a minimum income guarantee for all students.”

NUS President Liam Burns added:

“We welcome the cross-party support for our proposals, which not only provide grants to the very poorest students and support for student parents, but starts us on the road to dealing with the reality of the current economic climate for students in alleviating commercial debt, and stopping Scotland’s students from becoming even more overdrawn and overstretched.”

Ends.

Notes to Editors:

The text of the NUS pledge is below:

NUS Scotland’s Hardship Survey: Overdrawn and Overstretched has found that that Scotland’s students are most concerned about commercial debt. More worrying still is that poorer students, the very ones that have historically been denied access to higher education and are still underrepresented on our campuses, are the most afraid of commercial debt.

Further more, the current economic recession means that the flawed assumptions our student support system is based on, namely that a student will be able to get a part-time job during term time, work during the summer vacation and rely on support from parents, will all be tested to breaking point this academic year.

I recognise that although we would all like to consign graduate debt to the history books, with limited resources we must focus on those who need our support the most and get money back into student’s pockets, while they are studying, so that they no longer have to turn to unmanageable levels of commercial debt.

As such, I join NUS Scotland in calling for the £30 million offered in Supporting a Smarter Scotland to:

· Top-slice £2 million and merge it with discretionary childcare funding and the childcare element of the lone parents’ grant to create a childcare entitlement.
· Increase the minimum loan available to all students.
· Increase support for the poorest students, through a mixture of loans and grants.