Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The main support available to assist postgraduate students with the cost of attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme and the Programme for Government committed to addressing the gap in postgraduate grants. From September 2021 the postgraduate fee grant will increase to €3,500 from €2,000. This increase will allay some of the costs for postgraduate study and would give greater certainty for students in terms of supports. In addition the fee income threshold will increase to €54,240 from €31,500 from September 2021.

SUSI opened its application process for the 2021/22 academic year on March 31 and to date has received over 67,000 applications. I also secured an additional €20m in Budget 2021 to meet anticipated demands on the scheme as a consequence of the Covid pandemic.  Grant applications are submitted online via www.susi.ie. Further information in relation to student grant assistance is also available from this website. The telephone number for SUSI’s Helpdesk is 0761 087 874. 

The Student Assistance Fund (SAF) provides financial support to full- and part-time students who are experiencing financial difficulties while attending higher education. Under the Fund, financial support can be provided to assist students who are unable to meet costs associated with day-to-day participation in higher education, including a number of categories such as books and other class material, rent, heating and lighting bills and other utility bills, essential travel, childcare costs etc.  

In response to the Covid19 pandemic, the SAF allocation for the 2020/21 academic year was doubled from €8.1 million to €16.2 million. Since 2017, an additional €1 million per year has been allocated to the SAF with HEIs asked to prioritise and ring-fence this element of funding for the support of part-time students who are lone parents or members of the other access target groups identified in the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education. An additional €1 million was added to the fund in 2018 for students attending Professional Masters of Education (PME) courses, who are experiencing financial difficulty. This additional funding was also made available for the 2019/20 year and again in 2020/21.

In relation to other supports tax relief at the standard rate of tax may be claimed in respect of tuition fees paid for approved courses at approved colleges of higher education including approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU Member States. Further information on this tax relief is available from the Revenue Commissioners at www.revenue.ie.

Students are encouraged to engage with their institution to discuss any issues in relation to their course, including information on scholarships that may be available directly from the institution attended.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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478. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant from the current rate of €3,025 to €4,025 for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33561/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Based on the students in receipt of the 100% non-adjacent SUSI grant for the 2020/21 academic year (25,658), the estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant from €3,025 to €4,025 for eligible full-time students under the Student Grant Scheme at undergraduate and post-graduate level is in the region of €25.7m per academic year.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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479. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending a non-adjacent maintenance grant of €3,025 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33562/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The latest statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA)*  indicate that in the academic year 2019/20  there were 27,392 part-time undergraduate and 18,401 part-time postgraduate students at HEA funded institutions. The estimated cost of extending the non-adjacent maintenance grant of €3,025 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level for the approximate duration of their studies is outlined in the table below:

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect. 

*source

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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480. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant from the current rate of €3,025 to €4,025 and extending this to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33563/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Based on the students in receipt of the 100% non-adjacent SUSI grant for the 2020/21 academic year (25,658).  The estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant from €3,025 to €4,025 for eligible full-time students under the Student Grant Scheme at undergraduate and post-graduate level is in the region of €25.7m per academic year.

The latest statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA)*  indicate that in the academic year 2019/20  there were 27,392 part-time undergraduate and 18,401 part-time postgraduate students at HEA funded institutions. The estimated cost of extending the non-adjacent maintenance grant of €4,025 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level for the duration of studies is outlined in the table below.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect. 

*source

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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481. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending a non-adjacent maintenance grant of 100% to €4,025 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33564/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The latest statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA)*  indicate that in the  academic year 2019/20  there were 27,392 part-time undergraduate and 18,401 part-time postgraduate students at HEA funded institutions. The estimated cost of extending the non-adjacent maintenance grant of €4,025 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level for the approximate duration of studies is outlined in the table below.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect. 

*source 

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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482. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the adjacent maintenance grant from €1,215 to €2,215 for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33565/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Based on the students in receipt of the 100% adjacent SUSI grant for the 2020/21 academic year (21,668).  The estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant from €1,215 to €2,215 for eligible full-time students under the Student Grant Scheme at undergraduate and post-graduate level is in the region of €21.7m per academic year.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect. 

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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483. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending an adjacent maintenance grant from €1,215 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33566/21]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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484. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending an adjacent maintenance grant from €1,215 to €2,215 to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. [33567/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 483 and 484 together.

The latest statistics from the Higher Education Authority (HEA)*  indicate that in the academic year 2019/20  there were 27,392 part-time undergraduate and 18,401 part-time postgraduate students at HEA funded institutions.  

The estimated cost of extending the adjacent maintenance grant of €1,215 to part time students at undergraduate and post-graduate level for the approximate duration of their studies is outlined in the table below

The estimated cost of extending the adjacent maintenance grant of €2,215 to part-time students at undergraduate and post-graduate level for the duration of their studies is outlined in the table below. 

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, amongst other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. The review of the Student Grant Scheme is underway with over 250 submissions received via the public consultation process and over 9,000 survey responses were received through an online survey process. It is anticipated that the SUSI review will be completed later this year and will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.  At this point I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review to indicate when any proposed changes will come into effect. 

*source