Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 May 2022
152. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps that have been taken by his Department to support students who are heading one parent families to continue their educational journey in further and higher education. [25286/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe principal support provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme, which provides means-tested financial assistance to eligible students in further and higher education.
The scheme is administered by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), a business unit of CDETB (City of Dublin Education and Training Board). Under the terms of the Student Grant 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 maintenance grant is a contribution made towards a student’s day-to-day living expenses and is paid in nine monthly instalments. The purpose of the Scheme is to provide additional assistance where parental income is below a certain threshold or in the case of independent mature students, where the level of income of the student and his or her spouse warrants additional assistance by way of a grant. The aim of the student grant scheme is to make a contribution to the cost of going to college; covering the full cost has never been a feasible option.
In the 2019/2020 academic year SUSI paid 854 maintenance grants to grant recipients on full time courses whereby a One Parent Family Payment was declared by the applicant (not the child of a one parent family). Of the 854 lone parent students in receipt of the grant, 94 were PLC students, 692 were undergraduate students and 68 were postgraduate students.
In the 2020/2021 academic year SUSI paid 904 maintenance grants whereby a One Parent Family Payment was declared by the applicant. Of the 904 lone parent students in receipt of the grant, 88 were PLC students, 748 were undergraduate students and 68 were postgraduate students.
In the 2021/2022* academic year SUSI paid 673 maintenance grants whereby One Parent Family Payment was declared by the applicant lone parent students. Of the 673 lone parent students in receipt of the grant to date, 78 are PLC students, 541 are undergraduate students and 54 are postgraduate students. Please note that the figures for 2021/22 will rise as not all applications in this cohort are processed yet. SUSI anticipate the final figures for 2021/22 will be in line with previous years.
The third National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education (2015 – 2021) was launched in December 2015. The vision of the National Access Plan is to ensure that the student body entering into, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland's population. The Plan identifies the target groups that are currently under-represented in higher education including lone parents.
The Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) is the main funding stream that supports the implementation of the National Access Plan (NAP) with an overall funding envelope of €42m between the periods 2017 to 2022.
- Strand 1 supports access to initial teacher education from the target groups identified in the National Access Plan. €900,000 per annum allocated and over the 6 year period totalling €5.4m.
- Strand 2 provides bursaries to students who have been identified by their higher education institution as being the most socio-economically disadvantaged students in the target groups under the National Access Plan. With effect from the 2021/22 academic year, a three-tier system of bursary provision has been introduced. This consists of the existing 203 bursaries arising from the original call worth €5,000 per annum (Tier 1), 120 bursaries worth €2,000 per annum (Tier 2) and a number of once-off bursaries worth €1,500 payable for the 2021/22 academic year only (Tier 3).
- Strand 3 Higher Education Access Fund supports regional clusters of higher education institutions with the aim of attracting additional students from groups currently under-represented in higher education. €2.5m per annum allocated to clusters of higher education, totalling €15m over the 6 year period.
In academic year 2019/2020, a total of 56 lone parents were in receipt of a PATH bursary (28% of all bursary recipients) and in 2020/2021, 50 lone parents received a PATH bursary (25 % of all bursary recipients).
The Student Assistance Fund (SAF) provides financial support to full- and part-time students who are experiencing financial difficulties while attending higher education. The SAF can be claimed for expenses such as books, rent, food, medical costs, class materials, light and heat bills, essential travel and childcare. In the academic year 2020/2021 there were 829 part time students including lone parents who were recipients of the Student Assistance Fund.
Since 2017, following an independent review of the barriers facing lone parents in accessing higher education and other reviews of the SAF and FSD, the Government has invested additional funds to allow the extension of the SAF to part-time students who are lone parents or other members of National Access Plan target groups. The current core SAF provision for 2022 is €9.1m with no final decision made as to the 22/23 allocation. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SAF allocation for the 2020/21 academic year was doubled from €8.1 million to €16.2 million. The SAF will be doubled again for the 2021/22 academic year.
Fostering Inclusion is one of the three core pillars around which the Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy 2020-2024 is built. The FET sector is committed to increasing levels of inclusion through the provision of high quality, more accessible and flexible education and training programmes and supports suited to the identified needs of individuals, including for those heading one-parent families. FET provision is largely free or heavily subsidised, and a number of financial supports may be available to learners to facilitate the participation of individuals who would not otherwise be in a position to take up training. I would encourage people to make an appointment with their local Adult Education Guidance Service (AEGS), available in each Education and Training Boards (ETB) across the country free of charge, to discuss what supports may be available to them.
