COLLEGE CHIEFS believe Scotland’s poorest students are being let down by a lack of co-ordination between Westminster and Holyrood, writes Grant Smith, education reporter.

The Association of Scotland’s Colleges (ASC) will today ask the Calman Commission on devolution to examine its claim that the financial arrangements meant to support students are instead putting barriers in their way.

The commission—chaired by chancellor of Glasgow University Sir Kenneth Calman—is carry- ing out a review of the impact of devolution over the last decade.

The ASC said since the welfare system is managed by Westminster and the student support system by Holyrood, devolution has moved the two further apart.

The result often is that choosing to study can leave welfare recipients worse off than they are outside education.

This is particularly relevant to college students because they tend to be less well-off than their counterparts at university.

More than a fifth of those attending college come from deprived areas, against only a tenth of university students.

Almost a fifth of college students receive state benefits.

ASC acting chief executive Howard McKenzie said, “Choosing to come to college is a brave move for many of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society.

“Many students also face difficult decisions when it comes to living arrangements with partners, as household income is taken into consideration in the calculation of benefits.

“A couple who choose to live together may find themselves considerably less well-off.

“At the moment the average HNC or HND student in Scotland, who is 31 years old, is forced to juggle up to nine separate income streams and survive on a household income of less than £18,000.”

He added, “We are deeply concerned that this level of complexity, alongside the threat of actually being worse off, is a huge deterrent to study for society’s poorest people—in other words, those who need education the most.

“This absolutely has to change.”

In addition to giving evidence to the Calman Commission today, the ASC is also planning to call on the Scottish Government to replace the current student loan system with bursaries, administered by individual colleges rather than by the student awards agency.