The UK government has scrapped maintenance grants for University students beginning courses from September 2016.

The maintenance grants had meant up to £3,387 a year given to low income families but these will now instead be replaced by bigger maintenance loans.

While the grants didn’t have to be paid back, the loans have to be repaid under the same conditions as tuition loans, that is when earning more than £21,000 a year.

The new maintenance loan will increase to £8,200 for the 2016/17 academic year.

In addition, there’s room for the current £9,000 a year cap on tuition fees to increase over the coming years in line with inflation.

It all means that a student on a low income could end up with over £50,000 worth of debt to pay back when they finish a standard three-year course.