Vol. 557 No. 1
276 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposal he has to substantially increase the level of third level grants in line with the real costs incurred by students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21188/02]
In relation to the value of the grant, the practice in recent years has been to increase the level of maintenance grants annually at least in line with inflation. This year, in line with this policy, I announced increases of 5% in the rates of maintenance grant. The reference value for inflation is the annual percentage increase in the CPI to mid-February 2002. The increase of 5% in grant rates for 2002-03 was higher than the reference value, which was 4.7%.
Similarly, my approach was to follow the practice of recent years and increase the reckonable income limits in line with movements in the average industrial wage in the previous year. I approved an increase of 7% in the reckonable income limits for the 2002-03 academic year. This exceeded the increase in the average industrial wage for the period March 2000 to March 2001, which was 6.7%. I also increased by 15% the allowance by which the income limits may be increased in respect of other family members pursuing a course of study, in line with the commitment in the June 2002 programme for Government.
