David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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57. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way his Department intends to address the costs associated with further and higher education such as student accommodation costs and the student contribution charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6120/22]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Some of the question has been dealt with in respect of accommodation costs and student contribution charges. Does the Minister wish to expand on that answer? Will he address the question of the availability of accommodation, which has an impact on cost?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his time when we visited Midleton College and Carrigtwohill Community College recently. I had a chance to engage with students about some of their pathways and options after school and to see the new and exciting plan for Carrigtwohill Community College.

I, along with everybody in the House, am highly conscious of the rising cost of living and how we must work together to ensure cost is not barrier in education. Costs in education can come in many forms, as the Deputy correctly suggests in his question, including as a student contribution charge. There can also be costs for accommodation and living away from home as well as for books and supplies.

I recognise that student contributions are a significant cost for those who pay them. It is worth stating, nonetheless, that more than 65,000 students in higher education and their families receive support from SUSI and either pay no contribution or a reduced contribution level. I would like to see that number increase, and that is why in the budget we voted to increase the income threshold so more families would not have to pay the contribution fee and would be eligible for the maintenance grant. It is also why we have put in place measures to increase the SUSI grant by €200 across the board from September.

Specifically on the question of adjacency, we have decreased the distance very significantly from 45 km to 30 km. It is an important move and we must do even more on that. More students and their families will now qualify for the higher rate of grant as well.

I have already said in this House, and I will do so again, that as we work on a sustainable funding model for education, it cannot just be about how we better fund institutions. It must also be about how we can better support students and their families with costs. I am engaging with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and all of the Government in that regard.

On the question of student accommodation, we changed the law not just once but twice last year to ensure no student could be asked to pay more than one month's rent and deposit. Students were being asked to pay a lot upfront, such as four, five or six months of rent. That was not on. We also changed the law to ensure a student in student accommodation only had to give 28 days' notice because many students were losing money if, for whatever reason, they needed to return home. We want to build on this in the coming months.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response and acknowledge the work done by him and the Minister of State in the area, especially with regard to travel distance. Is there any role for hybrid work or study to assist students in the area?

Has the Minister looked at this at all?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I ran out of time when referring to student accommodation. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I, along with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, are working intensively to make sure that our technological universities can borrow for the very first time and start to build student accommodation. In Deputy Stanton's part of the world, for example, it opens up opportunities for the Munster Technological University also.

The Deputy asked a very interesting question about hybrid learning. We are trying to start a conversation by recognising that not every student is 18 or 19 years of age, and not every student wants the traditional full college experience. More and more we are going to see students in full-time employment, with dependants, with a job or with a mortgage, who will need to access part of the education system. This is where the hybrid model becomes very attractive, or indeed the remote learning option. We introduced a range of emergency measures during Covid across education to keep the show on the road. We now want to sit down with education stakeholders to see what good learning can be had from that, that we want to see embedded in the education system. In a county as large as the Deputy's constituency, where people can live quite a distance from a college, there is a particular appeal to making education available in remote working hubs or online at home.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for the response, which I welcome. I acknowledge the work done by the Minister of State with regard to the local training initiatives. This is also part of further education. What further plans does the Minister have to support students financially, and those people who provide the courses, in these local training initiatives that are part of further education? This also applies to persons for whom the formal education has not worked.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. I had started to answer the question, and I believe I have to conclude on it. I acknowledge the work the Minister of State is leading in this area. We are now trying to make sure that the range of supports available in higher education begin to transition in an appropriate way that works for further education and for community education. I will give a couple of quick examples. We have introduced the mitigating against educational disadvantage fund. Perhaps it needs a better name. It is the first time ever that community education has been able to draw down, annually, on an actual fund. This is making a real transformational difference. I see this as I travel across the State. We have also waived and abolished the fee for PLC courses. With regard to our capital announcements, Deputy Stanton will see in our capital calls, which we will announce in the coming days, significant attention and priority being given to further education on a scale that simply has not been seen before.