Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 July 2022
428. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the estimated full-year cost of reducing the non-adjacent student grant distance from 45km to 30km; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38505/22]
View answerThe eligibility criteria for student grants are reviewed annually by my Department and approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. All proposals made in relation to higher education expenditure, including student grants for the 2022/23 academic year, are considered in the context of the annual budgetary process. In Budget 2022, I reduced the qualifying distance criterion for students to qualify for the non-adjacent rate of grant from 45km to 30km, effective from the start of the 2022/23 academic year.
The adjacent rate of maintenance grant is payable in the case of students whose normal residence is 30km or less from the approved institution which he or she is attending and non-adjacent from 30km upwards.
Taking cognisant of the number of applicants in the previous academic year (21/22) the estimated cost for full year cost of reducing the non-adjacent student grant distance, from 45km to 30km in 2023 is in the region of €12.7m.
