- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of time is to pay off a student loan debt through the taxation system.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28474 on 6 October 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors caused the fall in initial entry to degree level courses from 2004 to 2005.
Answer
The factors causing the fallin initial entry to degree level courses between 2003-04 and 2004-05 it are likelyto be complex. The Executive is engaging with the Scottish Funding Council and institutionsto discuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate action in light of thesediscussions.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has paid to date to the purchasing banks in respect of the student loans sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 whose borrowers subsequently satisfied one or more of the conditions for having their loans written off.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28454 on 6 October 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how graduate endowment income has been spent since it became available.
Answer
Graduate Endowment income becameavailable in 2005-06 and in accordance with section 2 of The Education (GraduateEndowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001 has been applied in the provision of studentsupport.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many student loan borrowers domiciled in Scotland, now in repayment status, had their payments outweighed by interest charged on their loans in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answer
When considered in real terms,no student loan borrower in any stage of repayment will have payments outweighedby interest charged on their loans.
Thereal rate of interest on student loans is zero, as the interest charge simply coversinflation. Therefore, any repayment made, no matter how small, would always resultin a borrower owing less in real terms.
If no repayments were made, theborrower would still owe the same amount in real terms.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve the quality of its statistics on graduate destinations.
Answer
The data that the Scottish Executivecurrently holds on graduate destinations comes from two sources. Information ongraduates from Higher Education Institutions is provided by the Higher EducationStatistics Agency (HESA) from their Destination of Leavers from Higher Education(DLHE) survey. Information on graduates from Further Education Colleges is providedby the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and their First Destination of Graduates (FDG)survey.
The destination information currentlycollected gives details of graduates activities and location approximately six monthsafter graduating.
HESA have successfully piloteda longitudinal survey that aims to find out what graduates have been doing, overa longer period of time, since completing their studies. It will survey graduatesthree and a half years after graduation has been completed. The first full DLHELongitudinal survey will take place this winter. A sample of graduates from the2002-03 leaving cohort will be surveyed.
The FDG survey is currently carriedout by Scotland’s Further Education Colleges. The Scottish Funding Councilhas indicated that they are looking to implement a more standardised approach. Thiswill include internet access for students undertaking the survey. It is hoped tohave this structure in place next year, which would mean that students graduatingin 2007-08 would be the first to be influenced by this change.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors have caused the fall in the Age Participation Index since 2001-02.
Answer
The fall in the Age ParticipationIndex is likely to have been influenced by a number of factors. The Executive intendsto engage with the Scottish Funding Council and with colleges and universities todiscuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate action in light of these discussions.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total write-off of student loans debt has been since 1999.
Answer
Between financial years 1999-2000and 2005-06, a total of 1,206 Scottish domiciled borrowers have had their loanswritten off by the Student Loans Company, with a total value of £2,394,599.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Consolidated Resource Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2005, why £38 million was received in student loan repayments when £29 million is shown as income applied for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
Answer
There is no correlation betweenthe two figures. The £38 million is student loan repayments whereas the £29 millioncomprises capitalised interest (£29.3 million) and repayment of awards (£21,000).
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean, (b) mode and (c) median student loan debt is for Scottish borrowers who ceased to be students during 2006.
Answer
The following table shows themean, mode and median student loan debt for Scottish borrowers who entered repaymentin 2006:
Student Loan Debt for ScottishDomiciled Borrowers, as at 31 March 2006
| | Student Loan Debt |
| Mode | £4,214 |
| Median | £4,259 |
| Mean | £5,891 |
Source: Student Loans Company.
It should be noted that debtis calculated at the point of entering repayment (i.e. 31 March 2006) ratherthan at the point of graduation. Therefore, the majority of customers who have ceasedto be students in 2006 will not enter repayment until 2007 and we cannot providefigures for these students as yet.
