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Student Support Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021

Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Questions (525)

Neale Richmond

Question:

525. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he has considered additional financial supports for PhD students in receipt of a scholarship that do not benefit from the €50 million once-off Covid-19 payment scheme for third-level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5109/21]

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Written answers

The programme for Government contains commitments to, among other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. My Department will oversee the implementation of the review through a steering group with student representation as well as representation from SUSI. It is intended that the review will commence shortly and will report to me in summer 2021.  Stakeholders will be consulted as part of the review process and it is intended that the future direction of the SUSI scheme will be guided by the outcome of the review. 

The main support available to assist postgraduate students with the cost of attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme and the Programme for Government committed to addressing the gap in postgraduate grants. From September 2021 the postgraduate fee grant will increase to €3,500 from €2,000. This increase will allay some of the costs for postgraduate study and would give greater certainty for students in terms of supports. In addition the fee income threshold will increase to €54,240 from €31,500 from September 2021.

Under the Student Grant Scheme 2020, a student in receipt of a postgraduate research award where the stipend portion of the award does not exceed €16,000 may apply to the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) for financial assistance under the Student Grant Scheme. 

Apart from the Student Grant Scheme, the Deputy will be aware that in July I announced a funding package of €168m for the return to education. This package includes a €10m access support package for higher education students. I have approved the allocation of €8.1m of this funding to top up the Student Assistance Fund (SAF). The SAF assists students in a sensitive and compassionate manner, who might otherwise be unable to continue their third level studies due to their financial circumstances. Institutions have the autonomy to maximise the flexibility in the Student Assistance Fund to enable HEIs to support students during the COVID-19 situation. Details of this fund are available from the Access Office in the third level institution attended. This fund is administered on a confidential, discretionary basis. 

In addition, tax relief at the standard rate of tax may be claimed in respect of tuition fees paid for approved courses at approved colleges of higher education including approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU Member States and in non-EU countries. Further information on this tax relief is available from a student's local Tax office or from the Revenue Commissioners website www.revenue.ie

I recently announced enhanced funding of €3.2 million for the Irish Research Council to better support postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in Ireland across all disciplines. This will directly benefit close to 1,300 early-career researchers across our higher education and research system. The additional investment will fulfill the long-standing priority attached by the Council to improving the support for its funded postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers at the earliest opportunity. The Irish Research Council’s postgraduate stipend will increase from €16,000 to €18,500 per annum and funding for its postdoctoral researchers is also increasing. The changes will benefit both existing and new Council awardees in 2021, effective from the beginning of January.  Since my appointment, the funding gap for postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers between the research funding agencies under my Department has been an issue I wanted to address. I am pleased I have been able to address this as part of Budget 2021.

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