Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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163. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of not increasing the higher education student contribution by €250 to €3,000. [37318/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The position is that the student contribution is payable by students who qualify under my Departments Free Fees Schemes. The Exchequer meets the cost of tuition fees, through my Department's free fees schemes, in respect of eligible full-time undergraduate students. It is estimated that some 129,200 students qualified for free fees in the 2013/14 academic year at a cost of some €310m. Some 50% of students who qualify for free fees have the student contribution paid on their behalf by the Exchequer under my Department's Student Grant Scheme which is estimated to have cost some €126m for the 2013/14 academic year.