Catalogue description State Scholarship University Committee Files

Alphabetically by titles of the university committees under England and Wales.

The original arrangements for the assessment of state scholarships provided that the Board of Education, in assessing the value of individual awards, would be guided by committees of the universities which were a continuation of the local advisory committees associated with the Scheme for the Higher Education of the Ex-Service Students. Each of these bodies submitted for the board's approval "standard local costs of living" which they regarded as sufficient for a student to meet the necessary expenses of life during term time "adequately but economically" at the institutions with which they were concerned; separate figures were recommended for students living in a hostel or residential college, in lodgings, or at home.

"Principles for the Assessment of Grants" were issued for the guidance of university committees and in recommending the amount of financial assistance to be awarded to a state scholar, they took into account the student's private means, other scholarships or exhibitions and the assistance which could reasonably be expected from parents or others. In necessitous cases, an additional allowance could be recommended for board and lodging during vacations.

The maximum value of a state scholarship was the payment of a grant in aid of the approved fee plus a maintenance grant and, save in exceptional cases, no financial assistance was awarded where the gross parental income limit was exceeded.

The method of basing the value of state scholarships on local cost of living figures recommended by university committees ceased in 1942 with the board's adoption of uniform maintenance figures for general use; and in 1947, the role of university committees in assisting with the assessment of individual awards came to an end.