James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. I welcome this question. It is an opportunity to talk about the impact the SUSI grant can have. There has been continued investment and improvement with it but there is still more we can do. If we look at certain measures within the schemes and bands, there is an opportunity to go further there. Significant improvements have been made over the last number of years. In 2024, the once-off cost of living measures benefitted a proportion of grant holders in 2024. It is desirable to continue that beyond a once-off, temporary measure and into more permanent measures and to provide certainty to students because they are of significant impact and continue to benefit students.

We also have to look at it from a wider perspective. Undergraduate students deserve and receive the most focus but there is also the postgraduate student population. Maintenance was restored to them on a similar basis in September 2024, with a pro rata increase from January 2024. A total of 1,741 postgraduate students benefited from this measure in the previous academic year. Effective from September of last year and coming into this year, all non-adjacent maintenance rates increased by €615 and all adjacent maintenance grant rates increased by 10%, with a pro rata increase effective from January 2024. This benefitted 48,652 students, including the postgraduate students who I mentioned.

From September 2024, the special rate threshold increased in line with welfare. The band 4 maintenance increased to €50,840, the band under which to receive the grant, with the threshold for the 100% student contribution grant increasing by 10% to €55,924. Every student or their family up to an income of €55,924, just under €60,000, received their 100% student contribution grant as well as their SUSI grant. Those thresholds have expanded further for the upcoming year. It is important to also talk about and recognise the part-time fees scheme, which I will come back to in the supplementary.

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