The BBC included a quote by the Sutton Trust in their coverage on Budget 2015.

University maintenance grants for lower income students in England and Wales are to be scrapped from September 2016, Chancellor George Osborne has said.

In his budget, Mr Osborne said the grants had become “unaffordable”.

Mr Osborne also said university tuition fee caps would be linked to inflation for those institutions which offer high-quality teaching from 2017-18.

But critics said many low and middle income students could be put off university by these measures.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, warned the move could put off many low and middle income students from going to university.

“Since grants were reintroduced, there have been significant improvements in participation from full time less advantaged students, and this will be put at risk by today’s Budget plans,” he said.

“The reality is that the government has miscalculated the levels of repayments it will get from its student loans under the new fees system. Rather than penalising poorer students, it should have a fundamental review of the repayments system.”

Read the full article here.

Further coverage

Sir Peter’s comment was also covered in print by the Times, Guardian, Independent, I newspaper, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Yorkshire Post, Western Daily Press and Newcastle Journal.

In addition to the BBC article above, the MetroFinancial Times and Times Higher covered it online.

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