Written answers

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Department of Education and Skills

Grant Payments

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1256. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost to the State of increasing SUSI grants by 10%. [39748/21]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The annual spend for the 2020/21 academic year on maintenance grants as of end June 2021 was in the region of €160M.

Based on the number of students in receipt of the maintenance grant for 2020/21, the estimated cost of increasing all rates of the maintenance grant by 10% is in the region of €16.5M.

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.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1257. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost to restore the SUSI non-adjacent rate to 24 km. [39749/21]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The student maintenance grant is a contribution towards the living costs of a student. It is not intended to cover the full costs of attending college. The student grant scheme does however, provide for different levels of maintenance support, depending on means. Grants are also provided at adjacent and non-adjacent rates. The higher non-adjacent rates are intended to provide additional support to those students who may be living away from home.

Budget 2011 provided for a number of student grant measures which came into effect for the 2011/12 academic year, including the change in the assessment of the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant from 24 kilometres to 45 kilometres.

The 24km distance criterion was originally set in 1968 and had not been updated in more than 40 years. Since then, significant improvements have taken place in the road and rail network and it is considered that the revised distance criteria is more consistent with the type of distances that students may legitimately be expected to commute to college.

The current qualifying distance of 45km for the higher non-adjacent rate of student grant takes into account a reasonable radius within which students may commute on a daily basis.

The estimated cost to restore the SUSI non-adjacent rate to 24 kilometres is in the region of €28.5m.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, among other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. On foot of these commitments approval was given to commence a review of the Student Grant Scheme which is well underway and is being conducted by external consultants. 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.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1258. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost to reinstate postgraduate grants. [39750/21]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme where students are studying for the first time or are progressing to study at a higher level. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine.

Currently Postgraduate students who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the Student Grant Scheme are eligible for the Postgraduate Special Rate of Maintenance grant. The income threshold for this grant is €24,500, also postgraduate students are eligible to have their post graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270.

Budget 2021 provided for enhanced postgraduate supports for the academic year 2021/22 including the fee grant amount rising from €2,000 to €3,500 and the income threshold for eligibility for these grants to increase from €31,500, now €54,240. This is an initial step in meeting part of the Government’s commitments regarding SUSI grant support.

The estimated cost to reinstate postgraduate grants to their pre budget 2012 levels would be in the region of €39.72m. These costings are based on the assumption that the number of post graduate grant holders (2,518) in 2020/2021 will increase to the level prior to the 2012 Budget measure (6,027 students), and that these additional students will all receive the non-adjacent maintenance grant of 100% plus 100% fees.

The Programme for Government contains commitments to, among other things, review SUSI eligibility criteria, adjacency rates and postgraduate grant supports. On foot of these commitments Ministerial approval was given to commence a review of the Student Grant Scheme. A public consultation and student survey have been carried out as part of the review and the consultants are carrying out their analysis of the data captured in the surveys. The findings will inform policy priorities for the next Estimates process and future considerations regarding the development of student grant policy.

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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1259. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of expanding SUSI maintenance rates to all qualifying part and full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students. [39751/21]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The main support to students attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the Student Grant Scheme, eligible candidates may receive funding, provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution and meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment (progression) and means.

Under the scheme, students must be attending approved full-time courses. All full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students who meet the criteria under the Student Grant Scheme are in receipt of a grant.Part-time courses are not eligible for support.

However, to extend the average undergraduate maintenance grant to those in receipt of fees only to eligible full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students would cost in the region of €23.67m.

The estimated cost of extending the average maintenance grant to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level for the duration of studies is outlined in the table below.

- Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Total Cost €80.8m €161.6m €242.4m €323.2m

*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 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.

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