5 The end of undergraduate bursaries?

There is talk of ending undergraduate bursaries for disadvantaged students. The money would be redirected into school based projects aimed at increasing the numbers of disadvantaged school and FE students considering and applying to higher education. It is suggested that the money could be more effectively employed by, for example, increasing the numbers of students going to university summer schools. But, do these holiday schemes work? I’ve not seen any real evidence. Also, by cutting bursaries will we find an increase in the numbers of disadvantaged undergraduates dropping out of courses? If so, this could prove to be a really negative change in the system, as in my opinion, these students are the most vulnerable to experiencing academic failure as a profound personal failure. See http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/finance/story/0,,2090213,00.html and the OFFA report that questioned the effectiveness of bursaries http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2089733,00.html