Student Awards Agency Scotland award statistics: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much money has been awarded by SAAS to Scottish students during the most recent academic year (2024/25)? Please break down this information into the following categories and specific how many people have benefited from each of the awards.

2. Please provide the same information for the following academic years: 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, and 2020/21.

3. How much money was repaid from student loans in 2024/25? What about in 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, and 2020/21?

Response

1. How much money has been awarded by SAAS to Scottish students during the most recent academic year (2024/25)? Please break down this information into the following categories and specific how many people have benefited from each of the awards.

1. 1. Student loans - (Table FT.1 – living cost loans and fee loans)
2. Young Students' Bursary - (Table FT.3)
3. Independent Students' Bursary - (Table FT.3)
4. Care Experienced Students' Bursary - (Table FT.3)
5. Estranged Students' Bursary - (Table FT.3 – bursary was introduced in 2023-24)
6. Lone Parents' Grant - (Table FT.3)
7. Summer Accommodation Grant – see below
8. Placement expenses - (Table N.2)
9. Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary - (Table N.2)
10. Disabled Students' Allowance - (Table FT.3, Table N.2)

Most of this information for the 2024/25 academic year is already publicly accessible via the 2024/25 data tables on our website (National Statistics Publications). The locations of each category requested are shown above.

Please note that the Summer Accommodation Grant was only introduced in 2023/24. This information is not published on our website and is provided below:

Summer Accommodation Grant recipients, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025

2023-2024		2024-2025
No. of Students	Amount (£ million)	No. of Students	Amount (£ million)
348	0.377	520	0.548

2. Please provide the same information for the following academic years: 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, and 2020/21.

For these years, the majority of the requested information is already publicly accessible via the relevant historical data tables on our website as noted under question 1. The locations of each category requested are consistent with those shown above.

Therefore, this constitutes a formal notice under section 25(1) of FOISA that the information is already accessible.

3. How much money was repaid from student loans in 2024/25? What about in 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, and 2020/21?

The information you require will be held by the Student Loans Company and you should address your query to them directly. Details on how to do this can be found on their website Freedom of Information Policy - GOV.UK

Therefore, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that SAAS do not hold the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.