What has the SNP done for Scotland’s college students?
The SNP Government have spent more on Scotland’s colleges than Labour ever did, with a college resource budget of over £588 million in 2018-19. We have also delivered our commitment to maintain 116,000 full-time equivalent college places and have exceeded that target every year since 2011 – we will continue this commitment over the next five years.
Between 2007 and 2015 we invested over £550 million in college estates, £250 million more than the previous Labour/Lib Dem administrations.
We’re supporting a further £300 million of investment to deliver new campuses at City of Glasgow, Inverness and Ayrshire Colleges. And Forth Valley and Fife Colleges will share £140 million for new campuses too.
We’ve expanded the Education Maintenance Allowance in Scotland – now scrapped south of the border – to support even more school pupils and college students from low income families. We will also retain student bursaries, including for student nurses, and review student funding to make it fairer.