IN Scotland we are blessed with excellent universities, first-rate colleges and a raft of dedicated and tremendously hard-working teachers.

And yet, despite these riches, it remains a fact that not all of our young people are being well-served by the current system.

You will have heard me and other politicians talk about the attainment gap – the gulf in grades between pupils from Scotland’s richest and least affluent homes, but this is not the only barrier standing in the way of genuine equality of opportunity.

Last week, official figures revealed that students from Scotland’s poorest homes are racking up record amounts of debt – at the same time as the Scottish Government is slashing bursary support.

According to the Student Award Agency Scotland, students from homes with an income of less than £17,000 are averaging loans worth nearly £5,900 a year.

That’s a staggering 30 per cent more than their peers from well-off backgrounds.

All this stands in stark contrast to the SNP pledge to end the student debt burden.

Indeed, we’ve seen this balloon over the last two years from £254 million in 2012-13 to £468 million today.

Far from tackling student debt, it has actually accelerated under the SNP’s watch.

It’s not enough just to get young people from poorer backgrounds onto uni campuses, they need to be supported while they are there.

That’s what makes figures revealed last week all the more troubling.

Not only is student debt rising, but it is happening at a time when the Scottish Government is cutting bursaries.

When the SNP began its majority term the Young Students Bursary fund was worth £70 million. Today, that figure is £40 million.

Slashing bursary support by over 40 per cent is an odd way of encouraging more young people from disadvantaged areas into university.

So the Scottish Conservatives are clear: we need a plan for change.

Free tuition – the SNP’s preferred get of jail free card whenever they challenged on higher education – benefits middle class families the most.

Instead of preserving this system, we need to look at different ways to break down educational barriers.

For as it stands, only one in ten of our poorest 18 year olds are getting into university - the lowest rate anywhere in the UK.

It also means you three and a half times more likely to go to uni if you're rich in Scotland, rather than poor.

To change that, my party has a clear plan.

We would ask all graduates who had enjoyed a university education to pay back a contribution after they get a decent job.

That money could then be used to help increase bursaries for poorer students, who under the current scheme can’t even walk through the door.

This plan is sensible, it is moderate and it would help those most in need.

But the SNP won’t listen. T

hey are ideologically wedded to a system that is doing little to boost the prospects of Scotland’s most disadvantaged youngsters.

It is time for this to change.

We don’t need vanity projects, or policies carved in stone; we need a practical solution that doesn’t just open the door for poorer students, but enables them to realise their ambition and complete their degree.