Mr Swinney also said help for young people included the offer of education or training to unemployed 16 to 19-year-olds and maintaining college student numbers.
"We had folks who never needed aid before and now they have one, two parents unemployed, " says Vincent Amoroso, the school's director of student financial services.
However, in the current job market many graduates are unemployed or underemployed and unable to pay their debt, making the benefits of a student loan more speculative.
Borrowers who drop out of college are twice as likely to be unemployed as borrowers who receive a degree and ten times as likely to default on their student loans.