The Government’s decision to drastically cut the numbers of students eligible to receive a maintenance grant has been strongly condemned by the Bradford Council Conservative Leader.
Cllr Kris Hopkins said confirmation that the family income upper limit would be reduced from £60,000 to £50,020 in 2009 would hit a significant proportion of young people across Bradford district who wanted to gain university qualifications.
“As a result of this decision, large numbers of students from middle income families who wanted to enter higher education may not now get that chance,” he commented.
“Attending university is a goal that everyone has the right to aspire to. Indeed, it is a goal they should be encouraged to achieve.
“It is estimated that this change of Government policy will mean that 40,000 prospective students might not be able to attend university because they and their families are unable to afford the costs.
“Rather than protecting the interests of ‘the many not the few’ as they promised to do when taking office, Labour Ministers have again failed to protect the interests of the less well off members of our community.”
