Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can Mr. Miley explain what he meant when he said that those who can afford to pay something should pay? Will ability to pay be adjudicated by the universities or the State? Has the association done any work on what its solution might look like? The association has come in here and said there is a funding problem. I ask him to please explain how its solution to the funding problem will work. What is the ballpark figure for the family income threshold?

My concern is that the bands of the SUSI grant, which formerly was the higher education grant, have been tightened. The household income limit to avail of a SUSI grant is very low. It cuts out those on middle incomes, which means these students cannot get any help and cannot afford to go college.