Vol. 491 No. 6
308 Mr. P. Carey asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals, if any, he has regarding the introduction of a grants system to assist students studying part-time, evening and modular courses at third level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13026/98]
The student support schemes, i.e. the higher education grant scheme, the vocational education scholarship scheme and the ESF maintenance scheme, at present apply to students pursuing full-time courses in approved institutions. Any decision to extend the schemes to students pursuing part-time courses, including evening and modular courses, would have to be made in the light of available financial resources and competing needs in the education sector.
The academic year 1995/96 is the latest year for which my Department has complete figures of the number of third level students. In that year, there were almost 22,000 part-time students at third level. The provision of maintenance grants schemes to include part-time students would involve substantial additional expenditure.
Any proposal to extend the student support schemes to part-time students would have to have regard to overall resource constraints and other competing needs in the education sector. I would hope that, as resources become available, it will be possible to provide more Exchequer support for third level undergraduate students attending courses on a part-time basis.
In their report the Steering Committee on the Future Development of Higher Education, referred to the profile of part-time students and noted that almost 90 per cent were in employment. In this context I would point out that tax relief is available under section 15 of the Finance Act, 1996 for tuition fees paid by eligible students who are attending approved part-time third level courses.
