Written question WQ88635

Engagement with universities and students’ unions has indicated the increased cost of living is having a particular impact on students’ ability to remain in study, due to the need to earn additional income to support living costs.

The Welsh Government provides a high level of undergraduate student support. All eligible students can apply for the same maximum amount of maintenance support of up to £14,635, subject to where they will live while studying. This maintenance support is equal to the national living wage and students can receive at least £1,000 in non-repayable grant as part of this finance package. Additional non-repayable grants are provided for student parents, those with dependants and those with a disability or long-term health condition.

We work very closely with the Student Finance Wales service (SFW) and NASMA (National Association of Student Money Advisors) representatives for Wales to ensure students have access to information and guidance about their entitlements. SFW has improved its guidance about financial hardship and current year income assessments for students to ensure they are receiving the maximum amount of non-repayable support possible.

We have allocated an additional £2.3m to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) in 2022-23 to support well-being and health, with a particular emphasis on measures to address cost of living impacts. In 2023-24, £4.3m has been allocated to HEFCW to support well-being and health. This funding follows the £50m hardship funding provided to higher education students via HEFCW from the Covid reserve funds in 2020-21.

In addition, HEFCW’s Regulation Committee considers how institutions meet the expectations on retention set out in its fee and access plans. Where retention data indicates that an institution is falling below sector norms, HEFCW may undertake a process of enhanced monitoring, to ensure that actions are being taken to address the issue. HEFCW has also provided funding to all universities in Wales to support the development of capacity in learning analytics. This collates data about student behaviour (such as attendance, engagement with the library and online resources), to identify students who may be at risk of dropping out, or who may be experiencing wellbeing issues, to enable the institution to intervene and provide additional support to the student.

Institutions are increasingly developing and implementing student success or retention strategies, which may include employing dedicated staff to provide targeted support to students and providing additional training for academic staff. Analysis of data may focus on identifying those groups of students most likely to drop out, in order to ensure that interventions are appropriately focused.