Students: Call for postgraduate grants protection in Wales

A student has said her postgraduate grant is helping to keep a roof over her son's head as the support is set to be scrapped.

Masters student Anastazia Thomas, 26, said she would not be in education without her grant of more than £6,800.

Student groups have called on the Welsh government to protect postgraduate grants, which are due to end in 2024.

The Welsh government said it would save £9.6m, plus a £3.2m cut from bursaries to attract people to masters courses.

It said the funding "disproportionately benefits" women and students on science courses.

Anastazia is midway through a history MA at Cardiff University and has a four-year-old son, Evan, with her partner Nathan, who works as a driving instructor and choir master.

"It pays for him in school, but it also pays for me and my transport down to Cardiff and it's really kept us afloat," said Anastazia, from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

"I don't think I would have had the confidence to do the MA without the grant.

"I appreciate there are difficulties (for the government), but it's that removal of the option from working class parents.

"People won't consider the ability to better themselves which I feel like I have through the masters."

From September, students joining masters courses will only be able to take out loans, rather than being awarded grants, as part of a cost-cutting budget that tries to shift more money towards frontline public services.

Current students and those on teacher training courses, will not be affected.

Since 2019, postgraduates have been offered grants of between £1,000 and £6,885 depending on their family income.

They can top up their funding to £18,000 with a loan. Grants were being paid to about 6,200 masters students in the last full academic year.

The government said it wanted to protect core education funding and would "closely monitor" how the move affects Welsh-medium provision.

NUS Wales president Orla Tarn said Education Minister Jeremy Miles had previously talked about people having a "second chance" in education.

"The removal of grants and bursaries for postgraduate-taught students deepens a class divide and renders postgraduate studies unaffordable for those from less well-off backgrounds, directly derailing this vision," they said.

Micaela Panes, who represents postgraduate students on Cardiff University Students' Union, said: "To protect the fairness of opportunities, diversity, and inclusivity of higher education, the Welsh government should reconsider cuts to postgraduate funding."

The Welsh government said: "We continue to offer a greater level of support to postgraduate masters students than that available in England, as well as our generous package of support for undergraduate study.

"The Welsh government has, through its draft budget for 2024-25, protected funding for those undertaking a course of higher education for the first time."

Conservative education spokeswoman Laura Anne Jones said government cuts to the overall education budget "condemned countless pupils to an inferior education".

"The fact that they have also cut the higher education budget heaps further pressure on to people seeking postgraduate degrees," she said.

Plaid Cymru education spokeswoman Heledd Fychan said universities would suffer if fewer postgraduate students enrol on courses.

"People won't want to go into debate by taking on these courses and these are vital skills that will then be lost," she said.