Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
837. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to increase the holiday threshold allowance for students (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21874/20]
View answerThe assessment of means under the student grant scheme is based on gross income from all sources, with certain social welfare and health service executive payments being exempt.
In the assessment of means, a deduction can be made for holiday earnings made by the applicant from employment outside of term time but within the reference period.
Student grant applications for academic year 2020/21 will be assessed based on income earned in 2019. The 2020 Scheme allows students to disregard holiday earnings up to €4,500 from the assessment of reckonable income. The student must also have been in education when this income was earned. The value of this income disregard was increased from €3,809 to €4,500 in the 2016 scheme.
SUSI’s online application process for student grant applications for the 2020/21 academic year opened on 23rd April, 2020. Students are advised to submit their renewal student grant application as soon as possible. Further information in relation to student grant assistance is available from SUSI’s website, www.susi.ie. The telephone number for SUSI’s Helpdesk is 0761 087 874.
The eligibility criteria for student grants are reviewed annually by the Department and approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. All proposals made in relation to education expenditure, including student grants, will be considered in the context of Budget 2021.
The Student Assistance Fund (SAF) provides financial assistance to students experiencing financial difficulties while attending third level. Students can be assisted towards the rent, childcare costs, transport costs and books/class materials. The total allocation for the SAF is €9.1 million which includes an additional €1m added to the Fund in 2017 for part-time students who are lone-parents or members of the other access target groups. Prior to that the fund supported full-time students only. In December 2018 a further €1 million was added to the Fund for students attending Professional Masters of Education courses, who are experiencing financial difficulty. This funding continued into 2019 and 2020. The package of Covid 19 supports approved by Government in July includes a further €10m in access supports for students. A significant amount of this money will be used to double up the Student Assistance Fund, with remaining funding used to support students via the access services in the higher education institutions. Institutions have the autonomy to maximise the flexibility in the Student Assistance Fund to enable HEIs to support students during the COVID-19 situation.
