Recommendation 70

Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, told us that: We have recognised that the pandemic is making life so difficult for many students. [ … ] we have been [ … ] working really hard with our colleges and universities to distribute discretionary hardship funds to make sure those most in need are able to access assistance. We announced £5 million to top up the existing funds just before Christmas [2020], and of course a few days ago we announced a further £30 million, which will be £10 million to help the universities, given that they have already offered students in halls of residences, in most cases, refunds or cancellations, which will lead to loss of income for universities. Also, £20 million will go direct to the institutions for topping up the hardship funds.163 In evidence to us about decisions made by the Scottish Government at the start of the university term in 2020, Minister Lochhead stated that: “I reiterate that we apologise to our students for what they went through last September, as we apologised at the time”.164