Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)

It is very interesting if you look at the data, particularly for mature students. This is over a period of time. I do not think it is for that particular year but for mature honours degree students aged 23 and over, 71% of SUSI grant recipients completed their degree compared with 65% of those who did not get SUSI support. It seems that mature students get through at a better rate if they have more support. It is the same for mature general degree students who receive SUSI support, with 70% of them getting their degree compared to 59% of those without SUSI support. For mature students, it seems to have a particularly good impact.

I have seen the statistics for the various counties and the number of students getting support. They are very substantial, with more than 80,000 in total. With the Minister's maths hat on and his interest in data, what I am really interested in - perhaps his officials could deliver in due course - is as he makes changes to these schemes, how can he see the impact the year after or can he track back and link back making the changes to some level of outcome afterwards?

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