David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1005. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing undergraduate placements for nursing by 250 places in a given year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32611/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The estimated additional cost of an additional 250 student places for a one year intake is €1,875,000. The estimated cost for onecohort of the respective students for all years of a course (four years on average) is estimated at €7,500,000.

These are the estimated costs to my Department based an average of funding currently provided through the HEA (€7,500 per student) for grant and fees for nursing undergraduate places.

The estimate excludes:

- the €3,000 student contribution

- any additional costs for students eligible for SUSI grant supports

- any rostered placements salaries (the costs of this fall on the Dept Health /HSE).

- other costs that fall to the Dept. of Health/HSE.

In order to help mitigate the impact of the changes to the grading system, and following engagement with higher education institutions (HEIs) to identify where there was capacity in the system to create additional places, and the demand to justify them, 2,225additional places were made available in advance of Round One CAO offers in 2020. These places were created in a broad range of courses across many disciplines, and include courses in areas of very high demand such as healthcare, science and teacher education. These included 134 additional places in nursing courses.