IndyGal

One of my biggest concerns about student loans was always that their introduction and the removal of grants would prevent children from working class backgrounds from furthering their education. I am a strong believer in free education for all, regardless of your family's income so my concern is not limited to children from lower income backgrounds. But I do believe it is they, primarily, who will miss out on a college or university education if it means getting into debt.

I had an interesting conversation with my niece on Saturday. Christie is 15 and anyone who reads this blog will have heard me talking about her and her brother Daniel who is 10. Anyway Christie was telling me all about her aim to spend a couple of years in the USA followed by her plans to conquer Europe. She is desperate to travel and see the world and I hope she does. I might go with her! (Just kiddin Christie.) Now she's talked in the past about going to Uni so I asked when she was going to fit that in and she said she'd changed her mind.

Apparently her dad told her all about students today and how they don't get grants (not that she knew what a grant was - I explained though, just a little bit less than her pocket money) and have to take out loans. He also told her about the endowment fee of £2000 payable on graduation. And it's true - the average student today graduates with around £15,000 of debt.

Despite my belief that loans were a huge barrier to working class children entering higher education I was shocked to discover that I was right - this was, indeed, Christie's only reason for giving up on the idea of university. She just couldn't allow herself to build up that amount of debt. It scared her. And it scared her because she doesn't have the cushion of wealthy parents. Nor is there a history of high earnings in her background. Her parents both work hard, they're not exactly on their uppers but neither are they able to fund her through university.

I am not one for dwelling on working class vs middle class and I don't really like pigeon-holing people. But there's an important distinction to be made here. If your parents have savings, own property other than their home, are in the habit of earning above average salaries, in other words are middle class, you will be much less afraid of getting into debt. You will be more confident that you, too, can earn above average and therefore pay back your debt. We all hope to do better than our parents did but children from working class backgrounds are less likely to have an expectation of doing so. And if you're not confident of being able to pay back £15,000 why would you take the risk when you can go out and earn what will seem like a fortune to a 17 year old instead?

Who knows what Christie will ultimately do but you can imagine she was pretty pleased when I explained that the SNP government was radically changing student funding. That in future, there would be grants not loans. That the endowment fee had already been abolished. The smile on her face said it all - and she changed her mind there and then. So now, she's planning to apply to Uni and hopefully she'll enjoy the great social and learning experience it can be for many people - if they're not desperately worried about their finances. How she'll fit it in around her world travels I'm not sure but the world, as they say, is her oyster!

I was watching The Politics Show on Sunday with Christie (my 15 year old niece). She was on Cartoon Network but I wrestled the remote from her. "Don't you ever get bored with politics?" was all she could say. Anyway she soon got interested when she heard Nicola Sturgeon being introduced as "the Deputy First Minister of Scotland".

"I know the Deputy First Minister of our country?" she gasped. Actually, she didn't gasp. She never gasps. She's way too cool for that. But she did sit up and take notice. "The Deputy First Minister of Scotland's been in my house?". (I really do hope Nicola's not reading this.)

Anyway you know how you forget sometimes that you're not alone and you get talking to yourself? Or to the TV? Or, as on this occasion, to your mate who's on that TV? And I noticed Nicola was using a teeny bit of slang and heard myself saying out loud:

"FUR Nicola? FUR??? It's FOR!!"

(You know how I'm so terribly well spoken all of the time myself.)

Anyway the point is that Christie turned to me and said "she's Scottish *Nantie, you can understand what she's saying so let her speak the language of the Scots"!!

Talk about being put in your place! Talk about 'out of the mouths of babes'! And she was right - we are Scottish and why on earth would we want to lose the dialects and the accents of Scotland? Am suitably shamefaced.

Talking of being shamefaced, I haven't quite got round to buying the card yet so this is the next best thing - it's Nicola's birthday today so Happy Birthday Nic! We'll not mention figures, let's just say she's gone from 'mid' something to 'late' something :-)

*Nantie - it's an old Scots name for Auntie.

Apparently I'm developing obsessive compulsive disorder! This is what my niece Christie tells me. And it's just because I keep playing the last bit of Sister Act over and over and over again. I love the bit at the end where they sing "I will follow him". I wouldn't have to play it so often had it not been for the deal I was forced to strike with her - I am only allowed to join in every SECOND time. "Don't sing, don't dance, in fact don't move, just sit in the chair and listen" was the diktat from on high! Cheek! So perhaps if she let me join in I wouldn't be playing it so often. Can't wait to get rid of her today and then all I need to worry about is the neighbours :-)