During the Budget debate, Treasury Minister Alan Maclean said that all higher education students would be eligible to have some or all of their tuition fees paid for in full by the States.
However, the finer details of the proposals have yet to be unveiled and would still require approval by States Members.
Senator Maclean said a consultation period would be held this month and he did not rule out qualification periods or minimum periods that students may be expected to work in Jersey should they have their fees paid for.
Under the terms laid out by the minister, the States would pay tuition fees for all families with a household income of less than £150,000, while families with a combined income of more than that amount would have half the cost of tuition fees covered.
However, while Senator Maclean said the scheme would be funded in 2018 and 2019 through government underspends and existing contingencies, how the estimated £4 million a year required beyond 2019 would be funded was yet to be decided.
And Senator Maclean added that elements such as potential residency requirements would also have to be consulted on before anything was formally lodged with the States.
He said: ‘We think the new scheme is much fairer. It is in the interests of the Island because if we get more of our young talent away for higher education, we hope they will come back and provide those skills into the economy.
‘Young people going away to get higher education are going to take opportunities elsewhere – we know that.’
When asked whether students might be asked to return to Jersey to work or face being asked to repay the fees, the minister said that he ‘wouldn’t say that won’t be part of the consultation process’.
The proposals also include plans to increase the maximum maintenance grant by £500 to £6,500. This would remain a means-tested grant, but eligibility would be based on annual household income of up to £95,000.
Senator Maclean added: ‘I have been made aware of some really difficult circumstances for some families and the tremendous hardship some families have gone through – having to sell houses or scale down – to send their children to university. Education is the cornerstone that we need to invest in.’
He also said that previous grant schemes had not been targeted in the right places and that despite the Education Department having an annual budget of more than £10 million for higher education, large chunks of that money were left unspent as the eligibility requirements were strict.
A student-loan scheme had been considered, the Treasury Minister said, but was ultimately rejected as ‘we didn’t want to burden our students with debt’.
He added that the Island’s debt levels to underwrite such a scheme would have been excessively high.
Senator Maclean said that the details of the proposed new scheme would be consulted on by the middle of January and that he hoped that a debate could take place in the States in March – before the election in May.
‘There are quite a number of areas that do need to be sorted, but the important thing is this is going to happen,’ he said. ‘The details will be finalised and will be consulted on.’
He added that the first student grants under the new scheme would be awarded in time for students going to university next September.
