Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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42. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if asylum seekers will be exempted from non-EU and EEA university fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22642/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the student's access route including previous education.

Under the Departments Free Fees Initiative, the Exchequer pays tuition fees on behalf of eligible students attending approved full-time undergraduate courses. In order to qualify for funding under the Department’s Free Fees Initiative, students must meet the criteria of the scheme including the separate residency and nationality/citizenship requirements of the scheme. Persons in the asylum application process that do not hold the required permissions as granted by the Minister for Justice are not eligible to access the Free Fees Initiative.

Where students do not qualify for free fees funding, they are due to pay the appropriate fee, either EU or Non-EU, as determined by each higher education institution. These institutions are autonomous bodies and the level of fee payable by students who do not meet the requirements of the free fees scheme is a matter for the relevant institution to determine in accordance with their own criteria; the Department therefore has no role in the decision.

An administratively based Student Support Scheme for Asylum Seekers is currently in operation in my Department which provides supports along similar lines to the SUSI grant scheme. This scheme was introduced in 2015 and is available to persons who are either:

- asylum applicants; or

- subsidiary protection applicants; or

- leave to remain applicants.

Following a review of the 2019 scheme, I announced in August a liberalisation of the rules and the objective to have the scheme placed on a long term footing. The requirement for prospective applications to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained the Leaving Certificate in the State, will no longer be required. Prospective applicants will, however, still have to meet the requirement to have been in the protection or leave to remain process for three years.

I believe these measures will represent an important step in supporting asylum seekers in participating in higher education.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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43. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the abolition of the €3,000 student contribution fees to enable genuinely free education. [22513/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the Department’s free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding toward the tuition fee costs of eligible undergraduate Higher Education students with students paying the student contribution.

The student contribution fee is currently set at €3,000 per annum and can be paid in instalments. The State pays the contribution in full or part for an estimated 44 per cent of all students eligible for free fees funding through SUSI.

It should be noted that an abolition of the student contribution would require additional state funding of €242 million per annum, which is the estimated net cost to the Exchequer factoring in the subsequent estimated reduction in the SUSI Student Grant budget. The costs for the Exchequer of reducing or abolishing the student contribution would increase in line with the demographic increases expected in the coming years up to 2030.

I have acknowledged that the current rate is too high and a reduction of the rate will be considered over the lifetime of the Government. The potential amendments will be considered as part of the strategic reform of higher education funding and in view of the objective of ensuring access to and continued participation in higher education by students from disadvantaged backgrounds and from families who have been disproportionately impacted by Covid.

Examination of the student contribution will focus on how best to alleviate this cost to ensure that the critical role of higher education in ensuring all students achieving their potential is maximised.

I am conscious of the impact of the pandemic has had on students. In July I announced the provision of additional student assistance including a doubling of the Student Assistance Fund, and a €15 million technology fund.