The leader of Scottish Labour has pledged to boost student bursaries if her party wins the election on May 5.
Kezia Dugdale said she hoped to increase the young student bursary by roughly £900 and the independent student bursary by roughly £180.
The announcement came as party leaders continued their frenetic campaigning ahead of next month’s Scottish Parliament elections.
Willie Rennie, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said his income tax plans would be “good for businesses and good for the economy”, while Conservative leader Ruth Davidson visited a computer game designer’s in Dundee.
Announcing her policy after a visit to Glasgow University, Ms Dugdale said: “A young person’s ability to get on in life should be determined by their potential, work ethic and talent, not how much money their parents have.
“Today in Scotland it is the poorest students who rack up the highest debt in Scotland. Those who start with the least end up owing the most. That’s not fair and it stops too many young people getting a degree.”
Ms Davidson visited the Tag Games headquarters in Dundee, where she met staff and tried out new games that are being developed.
She said: “Our games industry is one of Scotland’s great success stories, and is exactly the kind of growth industry we need.
“At this election, we are campaigning for a fair deal for job creators – including a freeze in business rates – so that Scotland becomes the best place to build a start-up firm in Europe.
“I wanted to use today’s visit to hear what more the Scottish Government can and should do to reach that goal.”
Mr Rennie said reports of a downturn in Scotland’s economy were “hugely concerning” after research by the Bank of Scotland indicated output in the private sector declined last month, while the amount of new business continued to fall.
He added: “The Liberal Democrat penny for education would allow us to put more than £100 million back into our college sector. This investment is good for students, good for businesses and good for the economy.”
