EDUCATION authorities are considering replacing Spain's student grant system with loans in the same format as seen in the UK, given that costs to the State of higher education have rocketed in recent years.
Secretary of State for Universities, Professional and Vocational Training and Education, Montserrat Gomendio pointed out that in Spain, students are given 'sizeable sums of money' enabling them to study without getting a part-time job on top, and do not have to pay it back when they finish college.
Gomendio, during an international seminar on education in Spain, explained that in Britain those who go to university borrow money from a student loan company, paying it back 'in comfortable, interest-free quotas', and only once they have found a job paying more than 21,000 pounds a year before tax.
“It's not a question of whether or not university education is free of charge – it's a matter of who pays it, when and how,” Gomendio stressed.
She considers it 'very important' for private-sector credit to increase within the university environment – not just in terms of students paying for their education, but with job and work experience contracts and research fellowships sponsored by high-street banks.
Spain has a total of 82 universities, with an average of one per year having been created in the last decade, offering 7,000 degrees to 1.5 million students, and until recently they all received government grants covering at least their tuition fees and normally a subsidy towards living costs.
Typically, students in Spain attend the college nearest their home and return to the parental nest at weekends and during the holidays.
In the last two years, only pupils who achieve a grade of 55 per cent, or roughly a low grade C, in their university aptitude test – taken just after their bachillerato (A-levels) and upon which entry to college depends – have been entitled to grants covering their tuition fees.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com