Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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654. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of expanding the eligibility to the fund for students with disabilities, the student assistance fund and the maintenance grant to part time students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29111/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD) and the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) are managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of my Department.

While it is difficult to provide exact costs for future applications the HEA has estimated that the total cost of extending the scope of the Third Level Access Funds to students on part-time courses would be in the region of €2.1 million per year, assuming no other policy change, the estimated cost of SAF being approximately €1.9 million and FSD being €224,000.

Based on enrolment data for part-time students provided by the HEA the estimated cost of extending the maintenance grant to Higher Education students would be €32m per year.