Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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79. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will commit to not changing the qualifying distance criterion for entitlement to the higher education non-adjacent rate of grant in the future. [20774/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The current qualifying distance for the higher non-adjacent rate of student grant, at 45 km, takes into account a reasonable radius within which students may commute on a daily basis. I have not made any changes to the qualifying distance in the 2014 scheme. As the Deputy will be aware, the funding allocation for student grants for future years will be determined in the context of the overall Estimates and Budgetary process undertaken by all Government Departments. It is not, therefore, possible at this stage to predict what changes may be made to the student grants in the future.