Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The annual student contribution is levied on apprentices and students attending institutes of technology. This contribution has been levied by institutes of technology in respect of apprentices since 2004, with FÁS - and now SOLAS - paying 70% of the contribution and apprentices themselves paying the remainder. As part of budget 2014, SOLAS will cease making this payment to the institutes of technology and apprentices themselves will pay the full pro rata annual student contribution, rather than 30%.

The charge is €833 for the vast majority of apprentices scheduled on an off the job phase in an institute of technology in the academic year 2013-14 but is more than this for a small number of apprentices attending phases that are longer than the typical ten to 11 weeks. Apprentices will pay the same contribution as students, apportioned for the time they spend in the institutes. Unlike students, apprentices are paid a training allowances by SOLAS for phases of their training spent in institutes of technology. The allowance is equivalent to the wages they receive from their employers for on the job phases and is unaffected by the budgetary changes. Although apprentices are not eligible to receive student grants, the value of their training allowance would be greater than the maintenance available under the student grant scheme. This decision was taken against a difficult budgetary background and there is no scope to revisit it.

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