Hyslop Marks Abolition of University Tuition Fees
10 years on and 270,000 students benefit
Local Constituency MSP Fiona Hyslop has welcomed the news that 270,000 graduates have benefitted from free tuition fees since she scrapped the Graduate Endowment Fee as Education Secretary in 2008.
Commenting Fiona said;
“As the Government Minister who abolished this unfair tax on education, I am delighted that 270,000 graduates across the country have benefitted from not paying the graduate endowment fee.
“Over the last decade in my role as Linlithgow Constituency MSP, I have spoken with a number of families and students across West Lothian who were very pleased to not have to pay the back-end tuition fee of £2,300 in order to graduate.
“This is very welcome news and I would pass on my best wishes to all our current and prospective students for their studies and I want to wish all the graduates of the last ten years well in their future endeavours.”
ENDS
Notes to editor:
The SNP’s scrapping of tuition fees has allowed 270,000 Scottish students to graduate free of charge since the policy was introduced a decade ago, figures from SPICe have shown.
This week marks 10 years since the Graduate Endowment Abolition Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament – removing the backdoor tuition fees introduced by Labour and the Lib Dems. This policy ensured that students in Scotland would not have to pay for tuition either during or after their studies. By stark contrast, Tory policy south of the border sees students charged up to £9,250 a year for attending university. The Welsh Labour government also charges students to study in Wales.
Scottish First Degree Qualifiers since 2007-08
Year Scottish Graduates
2007-08 22,545
2008-09 22,345
2009-10 22,415
2010-11 23,200
2011-12 24,375
2012-13 25,310
2013-14 26,920
2014-15 26,305
2015-16 26,665
2016-17* 24,453
2017-18* 24,453
Projected Total 268,986
*NB: 2016/17 and 2017/18 figures are not yet available. Number given is average of previous years in the series.