Concerns over living costs for Jersey students

One parent said costs could mean their child may have to give up on a university education

A parent from Jersey has said she may be forced to ask her child to use a food bank at university because their government grant cannot cover all their living expenses.

Income thresholds for means-tested financial help for higher education students from the island have not changed since 2018, despite inflation.

It has resulted in people whose wages have increased with inflation being unable to access the same level of support.

The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Deputy Rob Ward said he was committed to providing an update on support for higher education students by the end of October.

The parent, who chose to remain anonymous, said the costs could mean their child may have to give up on a university education.

She said: "There's two outcomes potentially, one of those would be my child leaves, gives up on their goal, gives up on their dream and quits.

"Another alternative would be a uprooting and leaving Jersey, I would have to leave a relatively well paid job here and give them the opportunities that the UK can give them that Jersey can't."

Deputy Catherine Curtis said help was available for parents and students struggling financially

The head of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Panel, Deputy Catherine Curtis said students in 2018 would have received the maximum grant if their household income was £50,000 or less.

However, the threshold has not changed despite £50,000 being worth £67,000 in 2024.

"That actually means that people over the years since then are getting smaller grants than they used to and some people are finding they can't afford that," she said.

Ms Curtis said she was worried families could go into debt trying to help their children attend university.

She said: "No one should be denied the opportunity of studying for a degree, so if someone is finding it too difficult they should definitely contact first of all student finance but then they're welcome to contact me.

"I've helped people through appeals before."

Ms Curtis said help was available for parents and students struggling financially.

Nicki Heath supports families with student loans

Nicki Heath, who runs the Jersey Student Loans Support Group, said it was becoming more difficult to support families.

She said: "We’re getting to the position where it’s not working for more and more students every single year.

"It’s getting difficult when you think that two parents on a living wage would actually be over the level for a full maintenance grant."

Ms Heath said maintenance was the hardest to support.

"It’s getting to the point where the amount of maintenance required for accommodation is almost as much as fees, and that is a huge sum of money if you’re looking for £8,500 just for rent and then you’ve got living costs and travel costs for our students as well," she said.