Brighter Future Predicated for Students as Graduate Endowment Abolished

4.40.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 28th Feb 2008

Mike Pringle was celebrating good news for students today as the Graduate Endowment (Abolition) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament. The abolition means that any student who graduated last year or is set to graduate in the future will no longer have to pay the £2289 fee.

He had earlier joined students from across Scotland outside the Scottish Parliament's front entrance in a show of support for the abolition. The abolition was voted through by Scottish Liberal Democrat, Scottish Government and independent MSPs, it was not supported by either the Scottish Labour Party or the Scottish Conservative Party.

Mike Pringle said

"In my opinion the old system of topping up grant based fees with the endowment was never a viable option and only served to drive students further into debt.

"I know this change had the support of the vast majority of Scottish students as well as a lot of my constituents so it is good to be the bearer of good news.

"Scotland's graduates are an important part of its future, it is therefore vital that students are given every opportunity to study and develop without having to worry about the burden of debt."