Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Question:167. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of restoring the SUSI grant scheme to pre-2011 levels. [38563/19]
View answerTuesday, 24 September 2019
Questions (167)
Written answers
It is not possible to definitively estimate the full year cost of restoring the SUSI grant scheme to pre-2011 levels.
To put it in context, in 2010/11 there were 71,532 students who benefitted from grant support at a cost of €355m, whereas in 2018/19 there were 74,557 students in receipt of grant support at a cost of €363m.
In the intervening years we have centralised the student grant scheme (replacing four separate schemes and sixty six awarding authorities with one scheme administered by a centralised awarding authority), had a complete turnover of students, income levels have changed and numerous changes have been made to the annual schemes which affect eligibility criteria.
However, it is estimated that it would cost in the region of €100m to reverse all of the adjustments that have been made to the student grant scheme since 2011.