Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 June 2022
175. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the estimated cost of increasing the student maintenance grant by €1,000 for full-time third-level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28497/22]
View answerThe Student Grant Scheme, which is administered by SUSI on behalf of my department, is demand led and as such the numbers applying each year can change for reasons such as demographics and the expansion and extension of alternative educational opportunities. It is therefore not possible to fully determine the number of new applicant's who may apply for supports under the student grant scheme in any given year.
However, to date for the academic year, 2021/22, 61,011 awards have been made by SUSI to students who were eligible for any form of maintenance grant. If all of those students were to see their grant increased by €1,000 the estimated cost for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level would be in the region of €61m.
