STUDENT leaders have called for fresh investment in a flagship widening access policy after it emerged the cost of implementing it could be more than £13 million in its first full year alone.

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, has pledged to increase the number of disadvantaged students to 20 per cent of higher education entrants by 2030 as part of wider moves to address long-standing access problems.

However, figures collated by the Herald suggest fully funding the increase will cost an estimated £13.5m in fees and bursaries annually by 2030.

Because most students in Scotland study a four year undergraduate degree the cost of the policy will have risen to £54m a year by 2034.

The figures are important because the Scottish Government has made it a priority for universities to widen access, but tensions remain over how the policy will be delivered.

The Commission on Widening Access, which was set up by the government to look at the issue, recommended the 20 per cent target, but warned that unless extra places were created qualified middle classes students would be pushed out.

There are also fears applicants who are relatively poor, but whose family circumstances place them just above the targeted group will also be displaced.

Vonnie Sandlan, president of NUS Scotland, warned that policies to open up universities to poorer students would be undermined without extra investment.

She said: “Realising the ambitions and targets we’ve set requires immediate action, but it also requires the necessary investment.

“Some of the greatest progress we’ve seen in recent years on fair access came with government investment in thousands of additional places for widening access.

“In face of a persistent gap between demand for a university place and the places on offer and the concern that targets on fair access could be missed by decades it’s vital that those places and investment are protected and increased.”

Mary Senior, UCU Scotland Official, added: “Taking steps to improve our poor record on widening access in Scotland will undoubtedly come at a cost, but there’s a big price to pay in failing to support talented and able students from deprived backgrounds to access higher education.

“If that does not happen then we all lose out on the future contributions these people can make to our economy, public services and wider society and opening up access to universities based on ability and not background is definitely a price worth paying.”

There are currently 23,480 entrants to higher education in Scotland of which 3,076 are from the poorest 20 per cent of communities.

Raising the number to 20 per cent of all entrants would represent a total of 4,696 students leaving a current shortfall of 1,620.

The current average cost per student is nearly £7000 giving a total cost of closing the gap of some £11.3m rising to £13.5m with bursary entitlements.

Because a degree lasts four years the total cost is an estimated £54m a year by 2034.