Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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322. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost to the State of abolishing the student contribution charge for third level education. [34551/17]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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323. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost to the State of abolishing fees for postgraduate courses. [34552/17]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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324. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the annual cost of abolishing undergraduate and postgraduate fees in view of the reduced tax expenditures on tax relief on tuition fees. [34553/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 322 to 324, inclusive, together.

Based on the number of students that qualified for free fees funding in the academic year 2014/15 (and were therefore liable to pay the Student Contribution), and taking into account overall expected increases in student numbers, it is estimated that the net cost to my Department of abolishing the Student Contribution for the 2017/18 academic year would be €207m. This figure takes into account the resulting reduction to my Department's Student Grant Scheme budget.

With regard to funding towards tuition fees at undergraduate level, my Department provided funding of €280m in the academic year 2015/16 under the free fees schemes.

The cost to the State associated with the abolition of postgraduate fees is dependent on varying factors associated with type of study i.e. full-time or part-time, varying fees associated with different course types and higher fees for international students.

However, based on the fact that in the academic year 2015/16, there were 11,975 EU students registered on postgraduate courses, and using the average cost of an EU postgraduate course, the estimated cost to the State of abolishing fees for EU postgraduate students would be €83m. It should also be noted that under my Department's Student Grant Scheme, funding of €12m was provided for postgraduate tuition fees in 2015/16; taking this into account, the net additional cost to my Department would therefore be in the region of €71m.