Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will review student maintenance loan household income thresholds and outline a plan update those thresholds to reflect the real terms value compared with 2008.

Decisions on student support are taken on an annual basis. The department has continued to increase living costs support with a 2.3% increase for maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the current academic year, 2022/23. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022/23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.

In addition, maximum tuition fees and the subsidised loans available from the department to pay them, remain at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year in respect of standard full-time courses.

The department is also freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. As well as reducing debt levels for students, the continued fee freeze will help to ensure that the Higher Education (HE) system remains sustainable while also promoting greater efficiency at providers.

The department is reviewing options for uprating maximum loans and grants for the 2023/24 academic year, and an announcement will follow in the Autumn. We need to ensure the HE student finance system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. At a time of tight fiscal restrictions, we will need to consider spending on student finance alongside other priorities.