Abolished endowment fee celebrated

The abolishment of the Scottish graduate endowment fee has been celebrated in the run-up to its official end date, 1 April.

Lifelong Learning Cabinet Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, spoke to students at the University of Edinburgh explaining the benefits of scrapping the charge.

'Our move to scrap the charge is a down-payment on tackling student debt, as two-thirds of graduates can't afford to pay it and just add it to their student loan,' she said.

The £2,289 fee - which was abolished by a motion passed by the Scottish Parliament at the end of February this year - was 'a tax on learning,' Ms Hyslop added.

Furthermore, she told the undergraduates that that the charges were 'a real deterrent' for some students.

Her comments follow yesterday's news from the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).

A poll by UKYP found that three-quarters of 15- to 18-year-olds believe they should not have to pay tuition fees for higher education and one-third are deterred from applying to universities because of the financial burden.