Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will detail the work he is undertaking with regard to reducing the cost of third level education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26755/23]

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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My question is on the measures the Minister is taking to reduce the cost of third level education.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question. It must be a priority for the House and we must continue to fund higher education properly. We brought a plan called "Funding the Future" to the Cabinet last year. There are two parts to it. Some people would like to discuss the first part, which is about how to fund institutions properly to deliver the education system we want. We are fully committed to that, but a second part was also agreed whereby, in advance of the budget every year, we will publish a cost-of-education paper. It is like what the Department of Social Protection has been doing for years and how we have been publishing tax options in advance of budgets. Our paper sets out what we can do to reduce the cost of education for students and their families. We published it for the first time last year. This year, we will publish it at an enhanced level. I attended a stakeholder forum last week where we brought together students unions, access officers and organisations like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to explore options.

The Deputy will remember that, last year, we secured a package of cost-of-living supports that led to a significant reduction in costs for third level students and their families. For example, we reduced college fees for full-time undergraduate students for the first time in 20 to 30 years by knocking €1,000 off those fees. We invested an extra €12.3 million in the student assistance fund, bringing its total for this academic year to over €20 million. It is sometimes referred to as a hardship fund, which people can apply for if they are struggling with bills or need additional support. It helps people with the cost of rent, food and childcare. The Deputy will remember that we also ensured that the rent tax credit was extended through the Finance Act - it was not clear on budget day - to cover student accommodation, including the rent-a-room scheme, of which many students avail.

Through the budgetary process, we have seen improvements in the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant scheme, for example, an increase in maintenance grant rates by at least 10% above the rate of inflation and an expansion of the grant's remit in order that more undergraduate students than ever before are eligible. We also made a reduction in the fees permanent by having a new student contribution grant of €500 for anyone earning between €62,000 and €100,000. In other words, if someone's household income is less than €100,000, he or she will get €500 off his or her fees this year. We will do more in the budget.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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The Minister's response is appreciated, particularly his remarks about how this is a priority for everyone in the House, including the Government parties. I welcome the cost-of-education paper that the Minister mentioned. It is an opportune moment to assess the ongoing cost-of-living and cost-of-education issues that obtain. The Minister rightly pointed out the significant investment in institutions, but the people are almost more important, given the increasing cost of living and parents' ability to fund the fees associated with third level education, notwithstanding the significant grants. Reverting to my colleague's earlier question, the issue of accommodation is so inter-related with the third level experience that its cost can be prohibitive.

The Minister has outlined some welcome measures. The SUSI review, which is ongoing, will examine the changes made in recent years in particular. The expansion of those grants have been welcomed by students.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his support for this area of focus. We will publish the cost-of-education paper well in advance of the budget. I had hoped to publish it around the time of the summer recess, but I will certainly do so before the House resumes in the autumn. There will be plenty of opportunities for the Government, Opposition, students unions, media, citizens and everyone else to scrutinise what options the Government could choose in terms of grants, fees and student accommodation if it had X amount of money. Let us debate them. There will be a menu of options. We will not be able to choose all of them, but let us try to pursue some of them together. I will be meeting students unions again in July, having met them last April, and we held the stakeholder forum last week.

The Deputy is right to reference the cost of accommodation. It is the main cost that many students face if they have to move out of home to go to college. We have brought universities into the regions. Every region bar the north east now has a technological university, and work is under way on that in the north east. We are also using taxpayers' money for the first time to subsidise the building of college-owned accommodation. Any euro the State invests has to be reciprocated by a euro below market rents.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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That has been a clear and positive development in recent years and the Minister outlined some of the figures relating to planning permissions granted to third level institutions.

Whatever decisions are made by the Government following the debate on the cost-of-education paper, I will be keen to ensure that whatever investment is put in place, particularly in support of students, is ongoing and sustainable. Sustainability is key to ensuring a level playing field and allowing people from all backgrounds to access education. In my time 25 years ago, there were students in receipt of grants who might not necessarily have needed them because of a rather obscure way of evaluating their household incomes versus the household incomes of individuals living in cities, who could not qualify despite the extraordinary cost of third level.

I cannot stress enough that the issue of accommodation is one of the main constraints. In recent days, we heard of a student who had to travel nearly five hours per day and did not get home until nearly 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. I believe he was from rural Longford. The plea of such students is for us to double down on the provision of affordable student accommodation.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank my namesake for raising this important question. It boils down to the issue of access to education and the barriers to same, including financial ones. We are now aware that the student accommodation crisis is acting as a another barrier. When I was involved in college politics, fees were a hot topic - they still are - in terms of being a barrier to accessing education.

The Minister referred to a €500 grant for those earning less than €100,000. We will have to wait and see what decision is made on fees in the budget, but I hope that last year's decision will be maintained and there will be an added step in the direction of getting rid of student fees once and for all.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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To answer the Deputies Farrell, I have a clear view on the cost of education and how we can never let it be a barrier. This will involve the reduction in fees, improvements in grants and engaging on both issues through normal budgetary processes. I have been clear in the Funding the Future paper that we published last year that fees and grants should be considered each year in the round in terms of how we can best support students.

Deputy Alan Farrell spoke about the SUSI grant scheme. It needs to be overhauled. When it was introduced approximately a decade ago, it largely met the cost of going to college. The world has changed since then, though, and there are still poverty traps. My priority with SUSI and student grants is to eliminate those traps. For example, we tell people to study part time, but if they do, we do not let them access SUSI.

You could be a lone parent, trying to go to college and hold down a job and the only way college works for you is part-time. We need to make sure such people can access SUSI. It is about trying to get that part-time students' access to SUSI; alongside student accommodation. In the Deputy’s own area, Dublin City University, DCU, has approval for more than 400 student accommodation beds, which thanks to taxpayer investment of over €40 million, will make a real difference.