Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 8 December 2020
Select Committee on Education and Skills
Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary)
Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. If I understand the circumstances she has outlined correctly, this student is a fourth-year student who has paid all of his fees in their entirety and is not in receipt of a SUSI grant. In that instance, the student will get a cash refund of €250 from his college. It is relatively straightforward. By giving students who are not in receipt of a SUSI grant a credit against their next semester fees, future fees or other on-campus charges, we are trying to avoid having to create a whole new payments system and all of the grief involved in obtaining technology, setting up a system, the tendering process and hiring. We are trying to do this in the most streamlined and straightforward fashion to give the students who are entitled and eligible the benefit of this money as early as possible. In the case the Deputy has cited, a cash refund will issue.