Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 June 2021
384. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the estimated cost to the Exchequer of extending the SUSI support for postgraduate courses to cover the full cost of fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32790/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe latest statistics from the HEA indicate that in the academic year 2018/19 there were 24,855 full-time post graduate students at approved institutions. Most EU and EEA students can expect the cost of fees for a year of full time study to be between €4,000 and €9,000. Based on an average cost of €6,500 the estimated cost of extending the SUSI support for post-graduate courses to cover the full cost of fees would be in the region of €161,557,000.
The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy. At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect.
