Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
1259. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the estimated cost of expanding SUSI maintenance rates to all qualifying part and full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students. [39751/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe main support to students attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the Student Grant Scheme, eligible candidates may receive funding, provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution and meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment (progression) and means.
Under the scheme, students must be attending approved full-time courses. All full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students who meet the criteria under the Student Grant Scheme are in receipt of a grant. Part-time courses are not eligible for support.
However, to extend the average undergraduate maintenance grant to those in receipt of fees only to eligible full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students would cost in the region of €23.67m.
The estimated cost of extending the average maintenance grant to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level for the duration of studies is outlined in the table below.
|
- |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Total Cost |
€80.8m |
€161.6m |
€242.4m |
€323.2m |
*The latest statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA)* indicate that in the academic year 2019/20 there were 27,392 part-time undergraduate and 18,401 part-time postgraduate students at HEA funded institutions.
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.
