Holly Cairns
Question:375. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps he is taking to reform the student grant scheme. [20052/23]
View answerThursday, 27 April 2023
Questions (375)
Written answers
I instigated an independent review of the Student Grant Scheme which was published in 2022. The Funding the Future framework sets out my intention to implement a progressive range of measures to address costs as a barrier to education alongside improving core funding for higher education, in the context of overall Budgetary decision-making.
This will include progressive implementation of recommendations as set out in the Student Grant Review which. This review makes a number of recommendations on issues including rates of grant, income thresholds, eligibility criteria, part-time learning and postgraduate support.
I have already made a number of significant improvements to the Student Grant Scheme over the past two Budgets.
For the academic year 2022/23, I increased the income threshold to qualify for the standard rate of student grant by €1,000, all maintenance grant holders benefited from a grant increase of €200 and the qualifying distance criterion for students to qualify for the non-adjacent rate of grant was reduced from 45 km to 30 km.
I also announced a range of further measures to enhance the scheme as part of Budget 2023. Some of these cost-of-living measures commenced in 2022.
-As part of the Government's cost of living measures, every SUSI maintenance grant recipient received an additional once-off extra maintenance payment;
- All higher education students who are eligible for the fees initiative benefited from a once off reduction in the Student Contribution rate of €1,000 for the 2022/2023 academic year;
- PhD students funded by the SFI and the IRC benefited from a once off payment of €500 in the current academic year; and
- Post Graduate Students who met the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant benefited from a once off increase in this grant of €1,000 from €3,500 to €4,500.
In addition, I increased all maintenance grants effective from January 2023 in order to provide further financial assistance to those students most in need. The special rate and Band 1 rate of maintenance increased by 14% and all other maintenance grant rates increased by 10%.
A further range of improvements to the Student Grant Scheme as announced in Budget 2023 will take effect for the 2023/24 academic year, including:
- An increase in income limit from €55,240 to €62,000 for the 50% student contribution grant;
- A new student contribution grant of €500 for eligible incomes between €62,000 and €100,000;
- An increase to the postgraduate fee grant by €500 on 2022 levels from €3,500 to €4,000;
- A reduction in the eligibility for second chance mature students from 5 to 3 years;
- Exclusion of up to €14,000 rental income earned under Rent-a-Room Relief Scheme, which has been declared to Revenue, from reckonable income;
- An increase in student earnings outside of term time from €4,500 to €6,552; and
- A greater degree of flexibility for students who may have a long term social welfare payment but are falling outside of the special rate (this will allow a small increase on the income threshold for the special rate if a family has 4 or more children and/or has two or more students in college).
As I did for the first time last year, it is my intention to publish a cost of education options paper which will set out options for further enhancement of student supports for consideration as part of the Budgetary process in the Autumn.