Unlike higher education student support from SAAS, if college bursaries budgets run out, they run out. The amount a student gets in their pocket is either reduced or cut altogether.
The Draft Scottish Budget, due to be voted on within the next two weeks, makes a commitment to protecting the number of students we have in our colleges. That we welcome. But when this comes alongside a real terms cut in student support when the status quo wasn’t good enough in the first place, then we have a problem.
What can we do about it?
The Scottish Government needs the support of a majority of MSPs to pass their budget. The more MSPs support our campaign, the more chance we have of getting addition cash into college bursaries. Over the next two weeks we all need to work as hard as we can to:
- reverse the £1.7m bursary cut
- find the £14m shortfall for 2011/12
- create a fairer way to support FE students
We need you to take five campaigning actions as soon as possible:
- Get 100 sign ups to the website
- Write to your Constituency and Regional MSPs
- Meet with your Constituency MSP
- Ask your Principal and trade union for support
- Tell the media
If you want any support with the campaign then get in touch with: