From September 2007 all students will have to pay top-up fees of £1,350 a year, and high-income families could find themselves paying the full cost of their child’s course.
The Education Department have released a report today which recommends changes to the way the Island supports higher-education students.
Under the proposed scheme, top-up fees of £1,350 will be met by the student or his or her family and Islanders who cannot afford these costs will be offered student loans of up to £1,500 a year.
Education Minister Senator Mike Vibert said: ‘The main change, as we warned, is that from next September all students will pay the top-up fee introduced by the UK government of £1,350 a year.
‘To ensure that all students can afford to pay this, we are arranging a discretionary loan of up to £1,500 through the clearing banks.
These will be low-level loans that students won’t have to pay back until a year after they leave university.’