Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2021
55. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if there was an increase in the number of students who received a reduction in their grant in 2020-2021 compared to previous years; his views on whether this is due to including the pandemic unemployment payment as income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36827/21]
View answerThe principal support provided by my Department in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the terms of the Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.
The scheme is demand led and as such the numbers applying each year can change for reasons such as demographics, employment rates etc. The scheme is reviewed annually to ensure that it remains up to date with regard to policy issues arising across Government. For example, this year’s scheme includes a number of new income disregards such as the Fuel Allowance and Living Alone Allowance, and improved grant supports for postgraduate students. These changes can make it difficult to make like for like comparisons.
The number of students who received a different rate of grant in each of the last three academic years relative to the previous year together including provisional data for the forthcoming 2021-22 academic year is set out in the attached table.
The table shows that the percentage of students (44%) who received a lower rate of grant in the 2020-21 academic year was slightly lower but broadly in line with the trend (47%) in previous recent years.
2019 was the income reference year for the 2020-21 academic year and, as this pre-dates the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment from March 2020, the receipt of this payment was not a major determining factor in terms of changed student grant eligibility for the 2020-21 academic year. However, if a student or party to their application experiences a change in circumstances that is not a temporary change and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, they can apply to have their application assessed under the change in circumstances provision of the relevant Student Grant Scheme. The income of all parties to the application will be assessed or reassessed on the current year (2021) and they may also be asked to provide evidence of the current year’s (2021) income.
2020 is the income reference year for the forthcoming 2021-22 academic year. On the basis of emerging application processing data for the year to date, a further drop in the percentage of students (41%) who received a lower rate of grant in the 2021-22 academic year is currently indicated. The application process for the 2021/22 is still open. As such, this figure is subject to change.
