Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is something on which we agree. I passionately believe we have to reduce the cost of education. We have already taken a number of steps since the Government took office just under two years ago. I will not go through them all in the time available. There is the first increase in the SUSI grants. I accept that some of them do not take effect until September, but some of them have taken effect this year. There have been increases in the student assistance fund, and the Deputy and I have engaged on this. Indeed, the Government will consider the cost of living in the round at a Cabinet committee later this week.

However, I am conscious that when we talk about a sustainable funding model for higher education it cannot be just a model that is sustainable for the institutions, although that is very important. When I consider what a sustainable model would look like, I think of it as having three parts. It looks at the level of investment we need to put into higher education now and into the future to ensure it can meet the needs of our society and some of the issues the Deputy and I were discussing earlier, and how we can know it is adequately and sustainably funded. The second issue is how the grants system can be completely overhauled. We have a SUSI review to go alongside that. The third is the cost of education. I believe we need to do work with regard to the registration fee. The factual answer, as of now, is that I updated the Cabinet committee in December. I am engaging bilaterally with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I will shortly bring forward proposals on what that sustainable funding model looks like. I must say again that we have ruled out student loans. That is very important. I do not believe it works; it is a failed model. Students should not be leaving college heavily indebted and paying back the Government for loans, at a time when they might well want to be saving for other things in their lives in terms of progression.

We have made a number of changes to the SUSI scheme. There have been changes that have taken effect, including in respect of postgraduate students. There are more to come in September. We announced an increase in the student assistance fund last week as well. We continue to keep all these issues under review. However, I wish to be clear that I want to see the cost of education go in a downward direction as we bring forward the sustainable funding model.

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