Student Grants: Law drafting instructions: Amendment of Education (Discretionary Grants

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A decision made 10 August 2011 regarding:

Decision Reference:
Decision Summary Title):	Recommendations on Changes and Amendments to the Education (Discretionary Grants – Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2010 to take effect from September 2011		Date of Decision Summary:	5 August 2011
Decision Summary Author:	David Greenwood Assistant Director Lifelong Learning		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Recommendations on Changes and Amendments to the Education (Discretionary Grants – Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2010 to take effect from September 2011		Date of Written Report:	5 August 2011
Written Report Author:	Andrew Gibbs Head of Careers & Work Related Learning		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Changes to Student Grants Orders with effect from September 2011
Decision(s): The Minister agreed that the Law Draftsman should be requested to amend the Student Grants Orders 2010 to take account of his wishes as detailed in the report mentioned above (Education (Discretionary Grants – Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2010)
Reason(s) for Decision: The Education (Jersey) Law 1999 empowers the Minister ‘by order’ to make grants for students following programmes of higher education. The Orders describe the amount of States support available, the terms and conditions under which it is available and the criteria which students and their families must meet to be eligible. Costs of tuition change annually and administrative arrangements are often modified in light of experience gained. The amended Orders are usually laid before the States in September each year.
Resource Implications: A small amount of law drafting time
Action required: Request the Law Draftsman to prepare the necessary amendment to the Order (on the basis of a brief to be prepared by the Department) for subsequent consideration by the Minister.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Education, Sport and Culture
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Student Grants: Law drafting instructions: Amendment of Education (Discretionary Grants - Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2011)

Education, Sport and Culture Department Report
Subject:	Recommendations on Changes and Amendments to the Education (Discretionary Grants – Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2010 to take effect from September 2011
Exempt Clause:	Public	Date:	1st August 2011

Author:	Andrew Gibbs : Head of Careers & Learning Support

Background

In 2010 the Minister made a decision to adjust the maintenance grant by 2% in order to try and keep pace with rising costs. He further determined that this increase should take place on an annual basis. Within the Order different levels of maintenance are paid to students studying different types of course where the academic year is of a different length. For example a standard degree is based on an academic year of 31.5 weeks whereas a medical student will be expected to be at university for 42 weeks. For 2011, each of these levels of maintenance has been adjusted by approximately 2%. In addition a similar change has been made to the daily rate for extended periods of study that are compulsory.

There are four ‘bands’ of tuition fees to reflect the different costs associated with different types of higher education programmes. Band A is the most expensive and it is generally applied to high cost courses such as the clinical years of Medicine. Band D the lowest band is applied to classroom based courses such as Law.

The agreed tuition fees for 2011 include an element which is known as the variable fee or the “top-up” fee. All students are expected to pay this. A Jersey Student Loan facility is available to assist. For 2011 the variable fee is £1500.

To determine the cost of a particular course, the appropriate tuition fee (minus the £1500 payable by the student) is added to the maximum maintenance grant. The parental contribution to this cost is determined by reference to a means test against gross income. To assist with meeting the costs of the most expensive programmes of study, the current policy of the Department for Education Sport & Culture is to limit the assessed parental contribution to an amount equal to Band B tuition fees minus the variable fee plus the maximum maintenance grant. Obviously some families will chose to be more generous to their children and provide them with more than £5,200 towards the cost of accommodation, food and clothing etc. Assuming, that all students receive only £5,200 however, the most a family would be expected to contribute in 2011 is calculated as:

Max Tuition Fee Minus student contribution	Max Maintenance	Parental Contribution
£9867- £1500	£5200	= £13 567

The proposed changes below reflect the above adjustments.

Proposed Changes

Education (Discretionary Grants – Amounts) (Jersey) Order 2010

Article 2 (1)

In the table in Article 2(1) of the principal Order –

(a) for the amount “£5,100” substitute the amount “£5,200”

(b) for the amount “£5,572” substitute the amount “£5, 679”

(d) for the amount “£8,178” substitute the amount “£8,335”

(e) for the amount “£7,077” substitute the amount “£7,213”

Article 3

Amend amount to read £1500

Article 4 (5) (a)

Amend amount to read £13567

Article 7

(a) Amend amount to read £17.11

(b) Amend amount to read £21.02