Keenan: Lowering rent ‘extremely difficult’
Warren Hardie News Editor
U
nion President Dave Keenan has signalled that he will not be pursuing lower rent prices for university accommodation, a policy which was central to his presidential campaign. In a blog post on the Stirling Students Union website, Keenan stated that “it is extremely difficult to argue the case for material rent reductions in the current climate”.
Credit:facebook.com/people/Dave-Keenan-Union-Pres/100012453300243
Keenan also announced that he has “some creative ideas” that he feels will assist “students who most need help”, the contents of which will be outlined in a report coming out later this month. Reducing the cost of student rent was a key tenet of his campaign for Union President, a campaign which saw him win in a landslide. Currently, rent prices for student accommoda-
tion, excluding the newest halls, are frozen for the 2016/17 academic year. Yet with this announcement from the Union President it is now unclear whether these prices will see an increase in the 2017/18 academic year. Brig sat down with Keenan to discuss the progress of his fair rent campaign. When asked to clarify his statement on rent reductions, he said: “What
I meant by saying that is right, okay, we might not be able to get across the board rent reductions, but there are ways around that to ensure that we might be able to get some sort of subsidy for the students who actually need it. That’s what I’m aiming for here.” Keenan highlighted the importance of his Big Rent Review, a survey on students’ experiences in student accommodation,
which received more than 400 signatures. Now that it appears rent reductions are off the table, it is uncertain what Keenan’s “creative ideas” will entail. When asked to clarify whether these ‘creative ideas’ would involve another discretionary fund, Keenan explained: “It’s a reworking of [the discretionary fund] to make sure that it’s actually utilised. One of the biggest issues with the housing fund is that it’s been under-publicised, it’s been under used and it’s become ineffective.” “I encourage the Rent Review Group to say, look, let’s think about how we’re using that fund. Is it appropriate to say to students ‘We’ll give you support, when you hit financial trouble’ or start firefighting when it gets too bad? “Or do you want to be pre-emptive about this and get people from the start, when they first go into accommodation?” In the previous year, then-Union President Andrew Kinnell secured a freeze on the majority of student halls with a £50K discretionary fund to assist students who were Continued on Page 3
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SAAS expands postgraduate funding Ross Brannigan Deputy Editor
T
he Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) has announced it will now be providing a loan of up to £10,000 for all students studying a taught postgraduate course. The award will be available to Scottish domiciled students, and will comprise of a tuition fee loan of up to £5500, and living cost loan of up to £4500. Students studying parttime courses will also be eligible for funding, and can apply for a tuition fee loan of £2750 per year for the two years of their course. The news will be warmly received by students considering postgraduate courses in 2017/18, with Stirling reportedly hosting over 3000 postgraduate students. Matt Adie, VP Education, said: “The government’s decision to introduce a universal student loan entitlement for postgraduate programmes from 2017/18 takes a big step towards tackling one of the largest barriers students face in accessing postgraduate study. “These loans, designed to cover both tuition and living costs, will contrib-
ute towards making postgraduate study attainable for all. “That said, whilst we welcome this development there is still a pressing need for the government to invest more within the Scottish higher education sector to address the growing funding gap and ensure Scotland’s universities continue to lead the way in terms of the student experience they offer. “It’s only through this, that we can assure positive developments, like the postgraduate loan entitlement, do not come at the expense of rUK and International students.” Stirling University said it welcomed the new funding arrangements, and praised SAAS on distinguishing between the tuition and living cost loans. The university added: “The University of Stirling has significantly expanded taught postgraduate places and will continue to grow the number and variety of taught postgraduate courses to upskill students from across Scotland, the United Kingdom and internationally.”
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