Dear Jo Johnson: Minister, it’s time to tell parents the truth about what you...

missbiggles1

Ed-1 wrote: »

Time for a reform of it then?

No, not really - unless you mean switching to an HE (not graduate) tax.

Fitzmichael

missbiggles1,
As I said, mandatory central govt grants were introduced in '62, but local councils could offer support and sometimes had legacies for such purposes, but you/parents needed to know that or be told by a knowledgeable teacher, as well as knowing how to beat others to winning the scarce resource, like getting into the 'right' school now.

Ed-1

The tables in the 'MEMORANDUM: SUPPORT AVAILABLE UNDER THE
EDUCATION (STUDENT SUPPORT) REGULATIONS for 2017/18' document (available below) show that the assessed contribution from parents (although no official notification of this is given) is not the same as the difference between the support awarded and the maximum loan.

http://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/7761/financial_memorandum_for_201718.pdf

For example, table A6 on page 10 shows that the 'assessed contribution' is calculated only for household incomes above £42,875. So for a residual household income of £45,000 the maximum loan would be reduced by £2,421 but the assessed contribution from the parents would only be £257.