Endowment fee needs 'paying off immediately'

Students in Scotland may need to pay back their £2,289 graduate endowment immediately following the introduction of new legislation.

While laws brought in recently will mean current students in Scottish universities will be spared the one-off fee, those who have already graduated have been told they must pay back the amount at once.

The Students Awards Agency for Scotland has sent a letter to around 3,000 postgraduates stating that any outstanding balances are to be collected.

President of the National Union of Students Scotland, James Alexander, said that many were initially pleased at the scrapping of the endowment fee.

'But we are extremely disappointed that a previously positive benefit for postgraduate students appears to have been removed with the introduction of this legislation,' he commented.

It is thought that the development could mean graduates are burdened with more debt, rather than less.

The Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill was approved by the Scottish Parliament in February this year, which, according to the government in the country, benefited 50,000 students straight away.