Improvements to the student grant scheme has been a key priority since becoming Minister, and I have already made a number of significant improvements to the Student Grant Scheme over past Budgets benefiting thousands of students.
I have already started the process of increasing certain thresholds. From September 2024:-
• The Band 4 maintenance grant threshold will increase from the current threshold of €46,790 to €50,840 so more students will be eligible for a maintenance grant.
• The 100% Student Contribution threshold is increasing by 10% from €50,840 to €55,924.
Reducing the cost of education will continue to be a priority for me in 2024. As per the last number of years I will be publishing an options paper on reducing the cost of education which will examine the issue of increasing thresholds.