As the Deputy will be aware, the fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the student's access route including previous education.
Under the Department's Free Fees Initiative, the Exchequer pays tuition fees on behalf of eligible first time undergraduate students attending approved full-time undergraduate courses (including medicine courses). In order to qualify for funding under the Department’s Free Fees Initiative, students must meet the criteria of the scheme including previous education attainment.
Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) is one of the pathways to study undergraduate medicine. Students pursuing GEM programmes do so as second degree courses and consequently are not eligible for free fees funding or for student grants. However, in order to widen access to GEM programmes, and give assistance towards the financial burden on each student pursuing these programmes, the fees of participating EU students are partly subsidised by the State via the Higher Education Authority (HEA). Currently, the subsidy is €11,200 per student with the balance of fees payable by the student.
There is no Department supported loan scheme in place for GEM students. As you are aware there are private loans available for GEM students but these are arrangements between the relevant lenders and the students applying for such loans and the Department has no role in such arrangements.
Higher Education Institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs, including the management of academic affairs. They retain the right to determine their own policies and procedures. The level of fees to be charged in the case of GEM fees are therefore solely a matter for the relevant institution to determine in line with its own criteria.
