The Scottish National Party claims that giving Scottish students grants rather than loans this year would have saved the public purse £82.5 million and it has pledged to replace loans with grants. Shadow education minister Fiona Hyslop said: "A combination of low repayment rates, long repayment periods and interest charges make loans massively more expensive than an equivalent grant. Right now, we have the worst of all worlds. The taxpayer is paying over the odds for student funding and students are either being put off going to university or being saddled with huge debts."