The student grants system will have withered away by the year 2007, according to figures published this week by the National Union of Students (NUS). The prediction follows last week's government proposals for student loans. Although the loans are intended to supplement student grants, the NUS argues (that it) will lead to the dismantling of the present system ... Central to the students' concern is the plan to freeze the grant and the parental contribution from 1990. Mr Kenneth Baker, Secretary of State for Education and Science, said that by the year 2007 the parental contribution with the grant would equal the loans element of student support.
Life may begin at 40 if you are the Prince of Wales but not if you are a mature student - it is more likely to have ended by 30. That is the conclusion to be drawn from a new survey by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services on employers' attitudes towards older graduates. Although most firms claimed to have an open-entry policy, answers to more detailed questions showed that 30 was often the upper age limit. Fewer than half had recruited any new graduates over 25 last year, and 80 per cent of the jobs were in the civil service, which has twice raised its age limits in recent years.