Middle-class students face cut in university support after government mistake

Students from middle-class families are to see their university support cut, David Willetts admitted today. In a written ministerial statement, the universities minister said details of the proposed maintenance package for students contained in last week's statement on higher education funding were wrong. The statement had said that students from families with incomes of between £42,000 and £60,000 would see increases in their maintenance loans. But today, Willetts said that students from households earning between £49,000 and £53,000 would receive, on average, £120 less in maintenance loans. This is a 2.5% reduction for around 2.5% of students, he said. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that technical arrangements for how loans and grants are means tested are to be simplified – this is what will lead to some students receiving less in future than they do under the current system. This is not the first mistake to hit the coalition's education policies. In July Michael Gove, the education secretary, was forced to apologise for errors in lists of school-building programmes being cancelled. Maintenance loans help students to cover their living expenses, and are separate to tuition fee loans. Students from the lowest income families receive means-tested maintenance grants. Last week's statement announced that the government planned to raise tuition fees to £6,000 per year from 2012, with universities able to charge up to £9,000 per year in "exceptional circumstances". Tomorrow students are expected to march through central London in protest against the proposed rise in fees.