Charlie O'Connor
Ceist:91 Mr. O'Connor asked the Minister for Education and Science the action he is taking to ensure that young people from disadvantaged communities are given every opportunity to attend third level colleges. [18638/02]
Vol. 555 No. 4
91 Mr. O'Connor asked the Minister for Education and Science the action he is taking to ensure that young people from disadvantaged communities are given every opportunity to attend third level colleges. [18638/02]
There is a provision within the national development plan for a third level access fund totalling €120 million over the period 2000 to 2006 to tackle disadvantage at third level. In line with a commitment under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, my predecessor, Dr. Michael Woods established the action group on access to third level education to advise on the development of a co-ordinated strategy to increase participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability at third level. The action group's report was published in July 2001. To date a number of measures have been taken in response to some of the main recommendations in the report.
Special rates of maintenance grant – usually referred to as "top-up" grants – payable to disadvantaged grant holders were introduced with effect from the 2000-01 academic year. Following a recent review, I increased the annual income threshold for the special rates by 32%, a significant increase. For 2002-03, I also increased the special rate of grant to €4,000 for students residing more than 15 miles from college and €1,600 for students resident within 15 miles of college. This is equivalent to a "top-up" of €1,490 and €596, respectively, for eligible students on the ordinary maintenance grant. As a result of the review, it is expected that the number of students qualifying for the "top-up" grant in 2002-03 will double to 7,000 students.