Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the impact of the increases in the SUSI grant levels introduced in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37308/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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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?

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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11 o’clock

I think the Deputy has got to the heart of the recent debate; he has actually nailed it. It is so important that with whatever intervention we make around fees, grants or supports, we understand what the policy objective is. Is it to broaden the net? Is it to give something to everybody? Is it to give most to those who need it most? Is it to bring into the system people who would not otherwise have access third level education? Is it about a life-changing intervention for a family who has never had anybody go to college before? Is it for mature students who want to make the leap to return to college, perhaps after having been in the workforce? Let us be clear on the policy objectives and the problems we are trying to solve. If we are clear about those, we can design and tailor an intervention to match. Along those lines, I have instructed my Department to prepare research on the impact of various interventions and the levers we can pull, in addition to the policy consequences of those levers. I will include the Deputy’s position in the mix because it is important.

If I understand the Deputy’s point on mature students correctly, mature students seem to have proportionately benefited even more from some of the measures than others. That is an interesting point.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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That is the point I was making. It looks like the data indicate mature students who get the SUSI support do better in the long run than those who do not. It is a matter of closing the loop over the research and considering it in the long term to understand what happens when levers are pulled. When the Minister pulls levers, it is a case of asking whether he is just bringing more people into the system who will ultimately leave without success or targeting the resources at particular groups of students. It would be useful at the right time to get more information on that.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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For the benefit of the House, let me recap on some of the measures kicking in this year. I will investigate with regard to the cohort mentioned. It is worth saying that the special rate of maintenance threshold increased this year from €26,200 to €27,400. All grant thresholds increased by 15%, meaning the highest threshold is now €115,000. I signed a statutory instrument about four weeks into this job to bring 100 additional part-time courses into the SUSI net and the support net for the first time. Therefore, we are broadening and deepening the system, and we are providing more supports to more students than ever before.