The Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel has organised the event to hear evidence from Treasury Minister Alan Maclean and Assistant Education Minister Anne Pryke, who is filling in for Education Minister Rod Bryans, who has stepped aside while an investigation following a complaint of inappropriate behaviour takes place.
The hearing, which would normally take place during office hours in a meeting room in the States Building, is due to be held at the Pomme d’Or Hotel on 1 March at 7 pm.
The hearing is due to last until 8.15 pm and there will then be up to 30 minutes for questions from members of the public.
Panel chairman Deputy Jeremy Maçon said: ‘This is an incredibly important issue for many families in the Island and it is the hope of the panel that holding this hearing in a more accessible venue than the States Building will encourage people to attend and have their views heard.’
If the proposals as they currently stand are accepted by the States, then students from households earning up to £110,000 per year will have their tuition fees covered in full. Those from households earning up to £200,000 per year will be partly funded on a sliding scale.
A full maintenance grant will be available to students from families earning £50,000, with a sliding scale used to assess maintenance entitlement up to a cap of £90,000.
In order to help cover the cost of the scheme it is proposed that the higher child tax allowance, which allows those with children in higher education to claim £6,000 of their earnings tax free, or up to £3,000 for those on the marginal rate, be phased out.
