Students who receive support from The Students Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS): FOI release

Information requested

The number of Students who attended Scottish universities and had their fees paid for by the Scottish Government, how much it cost the Scottish Government in each year and what was the "capped" number of students for each of the academic years

2018 - 2019
2022 - 2023
2023 - 2024
2024 – 2025

Response

The Students Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) publish data annually on the number of students who receive support. Background table FT.1 provides the number of full-time Higher Education students supported with ‘Tuition Fees’ and the total cost of Tuition Fee support over the past decade: www.saas.gov.uk/about-saas/statistics. Further breakdowns can be requested from SAAS directly: saasstats@gov.scot.

Scottish Universities are autonomous institutions and as such, except for controlled subjects, the Scottish Government and Government Ministers do not set a student cap or direct individual universities on the number of funded places for individual subjects available for eligible Scottish students. 

Through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), universities are allocated a finite amount of money and it is for universities themselves to decide how to distribute these places between faculties; which courses they offer; and how many of the total funded places will be available on each course. To give universities additional flexibility in student recruitment, the SFC allows universities to recruit up to 10% above the number of funded places awarded.

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.