Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In 2018 my Department will spend some €450 million on access measures for further and higher education students. This includes approximately €380 million on student grants and related activities, which is expected to benefit approximately 78,000 further and higher education students. Some 16,000 students are expected to be assisted in 2018 through the student assistance fund at a cost of €9 million. In addition, 12,000 students are expected to be assisted through the fund for students with disabilities at a cost of €10 million.

Under the National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019, my predecessor as Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, created a new funding stream called the programme for access to higher education, PATH. To date, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, who has responsibility in this area, have secured over €16 million for the roll-out of three strands of the PATH programme aimed at increasing participation from under-represented groups in initial teacher education, a new 1916 bursary fund supporting 600 students over three years, and new initiatives to attract an additional 2,000 students from under-represented groups into higher education. A further 850 students will benefit from the provision of scholarships and bursaries to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The block grant paid to higher education institutions includes a specific weighting to promote access to higher education. This involves an additional premium for all eligible access students and takes account of the additional costs of recruiting and retaining students from under-represented backgrounds. For those from targeted socio-economic groups and mature students, this is applied for the first two years of course duration. For people with disabilities, a further weighting is applied for the entire length of the course.

Regarding other steps, the national student accommodation strategy was published in July 2017 to promote and enhance the supply of student accommodation in line with the timescale envisaged in Rebuilding Ireland. It sets a target of 7,000 additional purpose-built student accommodation bed spaces to be delivered by the end of 2019 and the construction of at least 21,000 propose-built student accommodation bed spaces by 2024. This initial target will be exceeded with over 10,000 bed spaces completed or on site as of October 2018. Price is ultimately a function of supply and demand and the national student accommodation strategy is explicitly aimed at increasing the supply of accommodation available to students.

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