Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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947. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the financial assistance with regard to fees that is available for a person entering third level for the first time who is on the back to education allowance, the course is a master's course and the person in question has not previously undertaken an undergraduate course. [21533/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Exchequer funds tuition fee costs in respect of eligible students who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study under my Department's Free Fees Initiative. The main conditions of the scheme are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia EU/EEA/Swiss nationality in their own right, and have been ordinarily resident in an EU/EEA/Swiss state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course.

Under the terms of the student grant scheme, my Department provides maintenance grants to undergraduate students pursuing approved third level courses, in the State or in other E.U. Member States, to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those which relate to nationality, residency, approved course, previous academic attainment and means.

Grant applicants in receipt of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) are not eligible for maintenance support under the student grant scheme. However, undergraduate students who qualify for the BTEA may be considered for support towards the student contribution charge which is €3,000 for the 2015/16 academic year.

Students entering postgraduate courses are not entitled to maintenance payments under the student grant scheme. Those who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the Student Grant Scheme are eligible to have their post-graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270. Alternatively, a postgraduate student may qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the costs of their fees. The income threshold for this payment is €31,500 for the 2015/16 academic year, increasing relative to the number of family dependents.

Students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme in relation, inter alia, to progression. The progression requirement provides that a student must be moving from year to year within a course, having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another, where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course.