PETER Karran MHK, Minister for Education and Children, will ask Tynwald to approve the 2012/13 Student Awards Regulations when it sits this month.
 
Under the regulations, students undertaking a standard, three-year degree course at a higher education institution will continue to have their tuition fees paid in full, subject to an upper limit of ?9,000 an year.
 
Only a small number of universities will charge more than this (up to ?10,500 for certain courses).
The Department of Education and Children acknowledges that the UCAS application deadline fell in January and will meet tuition fees for students already committed to higher-charging universities.
 
There are exceptions to the cap on tuition fees for courses in clinical medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and conservatoire music.
 
From September 2012, students commencing longer degree courses will be asked to contribute ?5,000 a year for the fourth and subsequent years of their studies. The contribution is not means-tested. However, finance will be made available through arrangements being made with local banks, providing loans at preferential rates and guaranteed by the Treasury.
 
Up to this point, students have been asked to contribute ?1,000 on a means-tested basis towards their fourth and subsequent years.
 
Students who have already started courses of four years and longer will not be affected by the increase.
 
The ?5,000 a year contribution will also apply to all new postgraduate students. Postgraduate students currently pay ?1,000 a year on a means-tested basis. Existing postgraduate students will not be affected by the increase.
 
Other main changes to the 2011/12 regulations include:
 
• A 4% increase in the level of maintenance grant, a means-tested sum payable (in 2011/12) to around a third of higher education students.
• A decrease of one year in the age limit for students eligible for assistance in (i) to (iii) as per
 
Age Range:  
Support Available:
(i) 18 to 28 (was 29) Tuition fees and means tested maintenance grant.
(ii) 29 to 38 studying on Island (was 39) Tuition fees and means tested maintenance grant.
(iii) 29 to 38 studying off Island (was 39) Means tested tuition fees only
NB – unchanged is (iv) 39 to 59  
Means tested tuition fees only
 
The Department is also flagging up that, from 2013/14 it will, subject to Tynwald’s approval when next year’s regulations go before it:
 
• increase the Isle of Man residency criteria for a student to be eligible for assistance from three years to four years
• increase the academic level a student must achieve at A-level from the current 160 UCAS points to 200 (this will be tightened further to 200 points to include at least one A-level at Grade C from September 2014).
 
Mr Karran said the decision to continue to meet tuition fees for the first three years of a degree course meant that university places could be accessed by all students who are academically able to attain them and not just those who can afford it. It meant Isle of Man students would not leave university saddled with large debts like their UK counterparts.
 
Asking students to contribute ?5,000 a year for the fourth and subsequent years of a degree or for postgraduate study will encourage students to carefully consider which courses to take. However, even students contributing towards the fourth and subsequent years of their study will continue to receive, in the case of a ?9,000-a-year course, support of ?4,000 a year towards their courses from the Isle of Man Government.
 
The Department’s budget for higher education for 2012/13 is ?11 million.
 
The Department currently (2011/12) funds 1,415 students working towards higher education qualifications in the UK, at the Isle of Man College of Further and Higher Education and via distance learning.
 
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