asked the Minister for Education the proportion of students in eligible institutions receiving higher education grants and scholarships to regional technical colleges; and the cost of making such grants and scholarships available to all students meeting the academic and entry criteria, without means tests.
Written Answers. - Grants to RTCs.
300.
Approximately 25 per cent of students in eligible third level institutions are in receipt of assistance under the higher education grants scheme and the VEC scholarship scheme.
Given the variety of factors that affect the cost of the schemes at present (e.g. level of grant, varying fee levels for courses, application of adjacent or nonadjacent rate, etc.) it is not possible to quantify the impact of removing the means test. However, such a measure would be likely to give rise to very significant additional costs.