Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2017
363. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of postgraduates that have been provided financial assistance under the student grant scheme in each of the years since 2009 to 2016 and to date in 2017. [34884/17]
View answerFinancial supports are currently available for those postgraduate students who meet the eligibility criteria of the Student Grant Scheme.
Post-graduate students who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the Student Grant Scheme are eligible to have their post graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270.
Alternatively, a postgraduate student may qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the cost of his/her fees. The income threshold for this payment is €31,500 for the 2016/17 academic year, increasing relative to the number of family dependents.
The Deputy will be aware of the Programme for Government commitment to increase financial supports for post graduate students with a particular focus on those from low income households.
In response to this commitment, Minister Bruton secured additional funding of €4million in Budget 2017 to facilitate the reinstatement of full maintenance grants, from September 2017, for the most disadvantaged post graduate students.
This will benefit approximately 1,100 of the most disadvantaged post graduate students who meet the eligibility criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant, from September 2017, and it reverses the budgetary cut that was imposed on this cohort of students in 2012.
The number of postgraduate students in receipt of a grant under the Student Grant Scheme from the 2009/10 academic year to date in 2017 is outlined in the following table.
POST-GRADUATE GRANT-HOLDERS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEARS 2009/10 – 2015/16 AND PROVISIONAL POST-GRADUATE GRANT-HOLDERS 2016/17
|
Grant-holders |
2009/10 |
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
|
Post-Graduate |
6,417 |
6,667 |
6,027 |
3869 |
2,695 |
2.558 |
2.324 |
2,120(Provisional) |
