Dear Sir or Madam, Could you please state whether existing students
eligible for maintenance grants will be able to take advantage of
the announced increases in the thresholds for maintenance grants as
they continue their studies next year. If this is not the case,
could the justification given for their exclusion be provided.

Yours faithfully, Daniel Boland

Dear Mr Boland,

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2008/0052547

Thank you.

Public Communications Unit

Department for Children, Schools and Families

Tel: 0870 000 2288

www.dcsf.gov.uk <http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/>

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Dear Mr Boland,

Thank you for your email dated 22 May 2008 about existing students'
access to the improved student support package.

I can confirm that the increases in the income thresholds for
maintenance grants announced by the Secretary of State on 5 July 2007
will not be available to students who are already attending university,
and who will be continuing their studies in 2008 and beyond. In his
announcement, the Secretary of State said that the increases in income
thresholds for maintenance grants would 'take effect for students from
England entering higher education in 2008.'

This is in line with normal practice, in that all changes in student
support generally apply to new students only. When there are system
changes, whether positive or negative, continuing students remain
unaffected. Unfortunately, when there are positive changes, there will
be students who do not benefit, although conversely when more generous
or advantageous elements are abolished, continuing students will
continue to benefit from their existing package. For example, students
who commenced their course in 2005 continue to pay a lower rate of
tuition fee than those who started their course in 2006, and also
continue to be eligible to a means-tested grant, rather than a loan.

I appreciate that this may be frustrating when new students are entitled
to a more generous support package. However I hope you will agree that
the overall Government's student support system, subsidised by the
taxpayer, offers an increasingly generous support package for both
existing and new students.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Giles
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2008/0052547.

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