University cash goes unspent

Tuesday 20 December 2016

States money set aside to help local students go to university is going unspent because there’s been a significant drop in the number of Islanders going to study in the UK.

Education’s Chief Officer Justin Donovan told a scrutiny panel hearing yesterday that it’s difficult to establish patterns based on one or two years’ figures, but it seems around 100 fewer students every year are going away to university than in the past. But, he told the panel, he thinks this is a trend that’s likely to continue.

One of the reasons for the drop is because there are now more degree options. People can study on-Island or through online courses. The other reason for the drop is because it’s becoming increasingly more expensive to study in the UK. Added to that, local students don’t have access to the loans system open to UK-based students.

Mr Donovan then went to on to say whilst it might be tempting to redistribute the unspent money to provide more support for those who are going to university there would be problems if the trend reversed. The States would then find themselves with a shortage of money.

The Treasury say they are trying to find ways to help students cover university costs but say it’s a complicated situation. The Island doesn’t have enough money to underwrite its own student loans scheme, and last week the UK government told education representatives that allowing Jersey students to access the UK system would mean changing English law. That’s something they’re not keen to do because of a backlog of other more important legislation. Locally, banks have also told the States they’re not willing to underwrite a scheme.