Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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160. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of restoring maintenance grants for postgraduate students to pre-2012 levels. [27511/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I secured additional funding of €7m in Budgets 2017 and 2018 to facilitate the reinstatement of full maintenance grants from September 2017, for the most disadvantaged postgraduate students. This benefitted circa 1,000 post graduate students who met the eligibility criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant for the academic year 2017/18 and reversed the budgetary cut that was imposed on this cohort of students in 2012.

If postgraduate supports were returned to the pre-2012 level and numbers, it is estimated that additional funding of €44.1m would be required on top of the additional €7m secured in recent budgets.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the special rate maintenance grant by amounts (details supplied). [27512/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The estimated of cost of increasing the special rate maintenance grant by €10, €20, €30, €40 per week would be in the region of €7.9m, €15.7m, €23.5m and €31.4m respectively. 

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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162. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of reversing changes to the distance criteria in the student grant. [27513/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The cost of reversing the change to the distance criterion from the existing 45kms to 24kms, is estimated to be in the region of €26m.

The above costing assumes that a change to the distance criterion would result in a similar percentage of students qualifying for the higher non-adjacent grant support, as existed pre Budget 2011.