Greater assistance for students

Support packages for students coming directly through the government, rather than being implemented on the basis of discretionary criteria adopted by universities.

It would be more beneficial for university students to receive financial assistance directly from the Scottish Government rather than having recourse to universities themselves, for these institutions generally impose discretionary criteria for access to funding which can be very difficult to meet.

Whilst support measures implemented by the government have generally catered to a wide variety of the population, I feel university students have been a vastly overlooked demographic, especially those who typically work during the summer or who are now stuck with a reduced furlough payment figure since this is calculated by reference to employment periods where students would invariably work minimal part-time hours. This is especially problematic for students who would work significantly more hours in the summer after graduation to save the funds for postgraduate degrees.