Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
426. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of assessing all students aged 18 to 23 years of age, that is, not exclusively those estranged from their parents, as independent for the purpose of the SUSI grant system provided they meet all other eligibility criteria. [25455/18]
View answerTreating every student as independent would in almost all cases, remove the targeting of funding at those most in need of support and result in every full-time student meeting the means test criteria.
It is difficult to accurately cost this proposal as it would require information not currently available, on all full-time students up to the age of 23. However, it is possible to make a general estimate of the cost of this proposal as follows:
In 2016/17, SUSI awarded grants to circa 79,000 students. The annual cost of the scheme in 2017 was €371m. This equates to an average grant of €4,700.
In 2016/17, the number of full-time students was 212,579, made up of 31,969 PLC students, 157,518 undergraduate students and 23,092 postgraduate students. 79,000 of these students receive a grant with 133,579 not qualifying for support.
Assuming that all additional 133,579 full-time students will qualify for an average grant of €4,700, then the cost would be in excess of €625m.
The above estimate assumes that every student is aged between 18 and 23 years. It also assumes that every student will meet all other SUSI qualifying criteria such as nationality, residency and prior academic attainment.
