VITAL bursary payments to Scottish college students should be an entitlement rather than a "lottery", ministers have been warned.
The call comes after figures showed demand for discretionary support payments from college students is outstripping the amount of money available.
Recent figures show applications for bursaries and childcare allowances rose 15 per cent in the past three years, yet the amount of support available increased by only five per cent - from £95 million to just over £100m.
Read more: Herald View
Now colleges and student body NUS Scotland have called for the Scottish Government to reform the way payments are made in line with the university sector - where payments are an entitlement.
Colleges Scotland, which represents the sector, said evidence had shown one of the greatest barriers to students participating and remaining in education was financial support.
A written submission to the Scottish Parliament's education committee, which is examining the issue, said: "The two separate and distinct systems currently in operation for higher education and further education produces a complex and often confusing financial support landscape for students.
"Historically, the cash limited allocations for student support have led to a system that has caused inequalities with different colleges awarding different amounts to students on similar courses.
"Whilst the amount of funding for student support has increased in total, some individual colleges have seen their student support funding reduced, and the overall increase has not kept up with the demand."
Colleges Scotland said the situation had been made worse by reclassification of institutions as public bodies which meant they could no longer hold reserves.
"One impact of this is that we have less money available for hardship payments to support the most disadvantaged students which negatively impacts upon access, retention and attainment."
"It is also important to understand that any move to a standardised entitlement system to student support funding for FE students will result in additional funding being required. It is vital for the continuing provision by the college sector that any such increase is not at the expense of funded teaching activity at the colleges.
Student body NUS Scotland also backed the calls for a shake-up of the system.
Its submission said: "In further education, we remain concerned that the discretionary system of student support continues to leave many students either
receiving less than the maximum amount of support that they should, and equally those who go without entirely.
"Annually, we see the level of unmet demand there exists for bursary support and it is vital that this funding need is met, and that work begins on costing ways to end it entirely.
"Equally, while there have been welcome moves to increase bursary amounts by inflation in recent years, this has not been the case forever and means that bursary rates fail to take account of the true increased cost of living for students.
"Ultimately, moving from a discretionary system to a system closer to an entitlement would solve many of the problems faced by students and colleges in terms of student support, and we believe the case has never been stronger for urgent action towards this end."
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