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So higher education minister Margaret Hodge thinks "low-paid work is good life experience for a pretty privileged bunch of young people" ("Fact: term-time jobs damage grades", THES , February 7).

Isn't the government seeking to attract students whose families already have rather good life experience of low-paid work? Does this mean that students from low-income families can expect a Derry Irvine-size grant to give them a good life experience of excess?

David Poulter
Lowestoft