More than one in 10 students who receive a stipend want their €84 monthly allowance removed, according to a survey carried out by the University newspaper The Insiter.
The survey randomly targeted 130 students and, among other things, asked whether the stipend should be removed: 11 per cent said yes.
"I think the reason is quite simple. Students are starting to realise their pocket money could be better used if it is invested in quality education," the University Students' Council's education coordinator, Daniela Bartolo said when contacted.
"People are realising that €84 a month does not really make much of a difference but if everyone's small sum is put together it would have a big impact when it comes to investing in infrastructure, more facilities, a more equipped library and so on. However, I do believe there are students who are struggling to make ends meet and who do need these grants," she added.
Twenty-seven per cent of respondents said stipends were not vital to their financial security while 24 per cent agreed the allowance should only go to those who really need it. The rest of the funds, they argued, should be invested in the University.
Seventeen per cent said they wanted to replace the stipends with optional loans that must be repaid once students achieved job stability.
Although this is evidently not the voice of the majority, it is an interesting shift from the usual "don't-touch-my-stipends" attitude by students.
The students who carried out the survey warned that the small sample might not be fully representative but they urged the authorities to carry out a similar survey on a larger scale.
This comes hot on the heels of a report released by KSU calling for quality education over stipends and buildings. It also follows a critical European Commission report that claimed Malta was spending too much on stipends and still not producing enough graduates.
In its report, KSU said Malta's major concern was not how many students were learning but how many of them were completing their courses successfully. It noted that Malta, along with Portugal, had the lowest completion rate in the EU.
In a recent television interview on Dissett, University rector Juanito Camilleri said the policy on stipends had to be revised. He reiterated the call to set up a University Trust Fund so that companies and organisations could donate money in return of tax breaks.
He suggested allowing students to give up their stipends in the same way, so that more funds could be used for research and quality education.
When contacted last week, the Education Ministry defended its stipends policy, which this year alone will cost the country some €21 million.
Although the National Commission for Higher Education is reviewing the student maintenance grants system, a spokesman for the ministry said the government was "committed" to the maintenance grants issue.
Asked whether stipends should be means-tested, a spokesman said this posed the question of whether students should be tested as individuals or on the basis of their family's income.
Although the vast majority of students remain adamant their stipends should not be reduced further, others seem to be realising that the sum is not enough for people who need it and unnecessary for the those who are financially stable.
In fact, 76 per cent of the respondents to The Insiter's survey said they had some kind of paid job, which included part-time and summer jobs.
Half of the respondents said they were able to maintain their own cars and 55 per cent said they received €80 or more from their parents on a monthly basis, despite receiving the same amount in stipends.
cperegin@timesofmalta.com