Exclusive: Student leaders from colleges and universities across Scotland today accuse the government of failing them.

Student leaders from colleges and universities across Scotland today accuse the government of failing them.

In an open letter to the Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop, published in The Herald, student presidents from 16 Scottish universities and 20 colleges said SNP policies had not addressed long-standing issues of debt and hardship, despite the party's manifesto promises.

The letter, which is also signed by politicians from all the major opposition parties as well as Gurjit Singh, president of NUS Scotland, states: "We believe the Scottish Government ... has let down students and failed to listen or react to their needs.

"We call on the Scottish Government to address student hardship, to address students' reliance on commercial credit, and to increase funding for hardship and childcare funds.

"This letter should act as a wake-up call for Scotland. The Scottish Government must take a new direction and we stand ready to work with you to help students through this difficult time."

The letter reflects long-standing resentment amongst students over a number of manifesto pledges made by the SNP before the last election.

The party promised to move to a system of non-repayable grants, rather than loans, and also said it would write off student debt.

However, at the SNP's first Scottish Budget, John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, said the pledge to "dump the debt" would be dropped because of a lack of parliamentary support and a tight financial settlement.

The SNP also came under heavy political fire after it emerged only £30m was available to improve financial support for students - well short of what would be required to replace loans with grants.

The government has abolished the graduate endowment - a one-off fee paid by students once they have completed their studies - but even this was criticised in the letter because it benefits graduates, rather than current students.

The letter goes on to call for a £7000 annual minimum income for the poorest students, a refocusing of resources on tackling student hardship rather than graduate debt, greater availability of student loans and increased hardship funds.

"We believe that the Government has not grasped that student hardship is the overriding priority for students in Scotland," the letter adds.

"With student hardship levels increasing and the economic downturn beginning to impact on students, as it is families across Scotland, it is time for a re-think."

Last night, Claire Baker, Labour's education spokeswoman, said: "This letter is a damning indictment of the SNP's first two years in power.

"In an unprecedented move, today we see Labour, student leaders and the opposition parties in Scotland uniting to call for a completely new direction from the Scottish Government. It is proof that the SNP is entirely out of touch on student issues, isolated not only in the parliament, but also in the country."

Murdo Fraser, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "The SNP were elected on a promise to wipe out student debt, something that they have utterly failed to do. The real issue today is not so much student debt as student hardship."

However, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government defended the position adopted by ministers.

"Given the tightest spending settlement received from the UK Government since devolution, we have had to make difficult choices and are focusing on reducing student debt at source through the many policies we are introducing to tackle hardship and improve student support."

"We recognised that the student support system was inadequately funded by previous administrations and that is why funding totalling more than £84m has been set aside to address this."