Summer support for students: review

Background

As student support payments are not provided over the summer break, both students in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) generally rely on employment opportunities during this time. FE students often remain eligible to claim social security benefits over the summer period. This is also the case for some HE students, depending on their circumstances, such as those who are responsible for a child.

Students who experience financial difficultiesover the summer months may be able to access Discretionary Funds which are administered by their college or university.Discretionary Funds (also known as hardship funds or emergency funds) are intended to provide non-repayable assistance to students in financial difficulties so that they are able to access and/or continue their course of education. This support is available to both FE and HE students until the end of July each year, however the onus is placed on colleges and universities on how they manage and administer these funds. Individual colleges and universities will determine if there is a need to retain funds over the summer if they expect there will be a demand from students in need of support over that period.

Anecdotal evidence from members of the Student Support Stakeholder Engagement Group suggests that the funds are often being used as a top-up to student support payments where there is a shortfall between student income and expenditure. Most institutions use the fund proactively to prevent students from entering hardship. In doing so, some colleges and universities set up recurring monthly payments to students. They also determine how much to award each individual student applicant which has raised concerns that students face a 'postcode lottery' when applying for support.

In June 2021, the Scottish Government announced an additional £20 million in summer hardship support which was administered to students via their college and university Discretionary Funds. This additional funding brought the total support for students since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to more than £96 million. A proportion of these funds were made available to students up until 31^st July 2021, with a further proportion being carried over to support students for the duration of the 2021/2022 Academic Year (AY). HE Discretionary Funds have now returned to the standard (pre-COVID) level for the 2022/2023 AY. Members of the Student Support Stakeholder Engagement Group raised concerns that returning to normal budget levels may present a significant challenge for colleges and universities in managing their funding allocation for the full academic year, which would include over the summer months.

The Scottish Government set up the Student Support Stakeholder Engagement Group (SSSEG) in August 2021 to work collaboratively on the topic of student summer support. The Review of Summer Support for Students has been conducted in consultation with Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Colleges Scotland (CS), Universities Scotland (US), NUS Scotland, the Further Education Student Support Advisory Group (FESSAG), National Association of Student Money Advisors (NASMA) and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). The Group was chaired by the Scottish Government and the Terms of Reference can be found at Annex A.

Early discussions with the SSSEG members indicated that support for students over the summer should extend beyond the financial aspect and include support such as money management, job opportunities and mental health advice. Full details of the topics covered in relation to summer support for students are available at Annex B.

As a result, the Review of Summer Support for Students focussed on three key themes:

• Financial Support – reviewing the current financial support available to students over the summer months (including Discretionary Funds and benefits)
• Timing of Payments – the longer term aim to make student funding available over 12 months, in conjunction with the commitment to provide support equivalent to the living wage over the next three years
• Holistic Support – a package of support that extends beyond financial support to include employment opportunities, communications, financial management and aspects of mental health support.