Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 May 2021
148. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that many potential students are blocked from accessing affordable third-level education due to their immigration status such as unaccompanied minors, children of immigrants working here and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26713/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe principal support provided by my Department in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme operated by SUSI. Under the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The scheme is open to prospective students who are EU, EEA, Swiss or UK nationals, or who have refugee, subsidiary protection status or leave to remain status.
Persons in the protection process (asylum and subsidiary protection) or leave to remain process, are not eligible to access the statutory based SUSI grant scheme. However, the administratively based Student Support Scheme provides supports along similar lines to the SUSI grant scheme and is available to persons in the asylum, subsidiary protection or leave to remain process.
The criteria for the Student Grant Scheme have been relaxed in recent years. The requirement for prospective applications to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained the Leaving Certificate in the State, no longer applies. These positive changes have resulted in more students qualifying for support under the scheme.
Access to the majority of further education and training (FET) programmes is free of charge or heavily subsidised. International protection applicants who have been granted permission to work are eligible to access FET programmes on the same basis as Irish nationals.
While access for eligible international protection applicants to the majority of FET programmes is free of charge, international fees for Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) programmes of €3,600 have applied to international protection applicants with permission to work, except for those who are eligible for the Student Support Scheme. However, I recently announced that from the start of the next academic year (2021/22), international fees for PLC courses would no longer apply for international protection applicants with permission to work.
