Government Expenditure and 3rd Level Grants

TokenWhite

Not sure if this is the right forum but figured since it's effectively a government expenditure question, it might be relevant here (if not please move).

Currently doing an assignment based around possible policies for future budgets, one of our proposals is to reform the grant system by introducing a student loan scheme, so rather than providing a blank cheque which would pay student tuition fees, it'd essentially be a low interest loan which could be paid back over X number of years after graduation. We'd still keep in place the actual maintenance aspect of the grant i.e. the monthly/tri-monthly payments into personal bank accounts, so that students from low income background would have something to survive on


I was wondering if there was any information out there on how much exactly the government spends providing maintenance grants to 3rd level students? And whether there's a breakdown on the amount that's used to pay tuition/registration fees as opposed to the maintenance aspect of it.

Any replies are appreciated.

noodler

Try the Comptroller and Auditor General's 2011 annual report for starters.