Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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175. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the student maintenance grant by €1,000 for full-time third-level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28497/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Student Grant Scheme, which is administered by SUSI on behalf of my department, is demand led and as such the numbers applying each year can change for reasons such as demographics and the expansion and extension of alternative educational opportunities. It is therefore not possible to fully determine the number of new applicant's who may apply for supports under the student grant scheme in any given year.

However, to date for the academic year, 2021/22,  61,011 awards have been made by SUSI to students who were eligible for any form of maintenance grant.  If all of those students were to see their grant increased by €1,000 the estimated cost for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level would be in the region of €61m.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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176. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the non-adjacent maintenance grant by €1,000 to €4,225 for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate-level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28498/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Student Grant Scheme, which is administered by SUSI on behalf of my department, is demand led and as such the numbers applying each year can change for reasons such as demographics and the expansion and extension of alternative educational opportunities. It is therefore not possible to consider the number of new applicant's who may apply for supports under the student grant scheme in any given year. 

However, to date for the academic year, 2021/22, 16,018 awards have been made by SUSI to students who were eligible for a full non-adjacent maintenance grant rate of €3,225 ( based on 22/23 rates).  If all of those students were to see their grant increased by €1,000 to €4,225, the estimated cost for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level is in the region of €16.01m.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending a non-adjacent maintenance grant to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28499/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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During the 2020/2021 academic year,(the latest year data is available)  statistics  from the Higher Education Authority show that there were 49,658 students studying at all levels in our publicly funded institutions on a part time basis.

The costs of extending the SUSI grant scheme to these part time students would depend on an assessment to see if they meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to course mode, nationality, residency, previous academic attainment (progression) and means. As they have not been assessed under the SUSI scheme, we do not know how many of these students would be eligible to receive SUSI grant funding if they were eligible to apply.  

It is also the case that we would not have details on the distance that part time students reside from their college to specifically give a cost estimate of extending the non adjacent maintenance grant rate to part time students. 

However the following will give you an indication of estimated costs of extending the non adjacent special maintenance rate of the SUSI scheme to part time students:

- If 10,000 of these students were deemed eligible for the 2022/23 non-adjacent special maintenance rate of €6,115, we would estimate a cost of €61.1m.

- If 20,000 of these students were deemed eligible, we would estimate a cost of €122.2m

- If 30,000 of these students were deemed eligible, we would estimate a cost of €183.3m. 

- If all 49,658 of these students were eligible, we would estimate a cost of €303.66m. 

These estimates do not include an estimation of extending funding to part time students under the free fees initiative which would be an additional cost to the exchequer. 

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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178. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the adjacent maintenance grant by €1,000 to €2,415 for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28500/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Student Grant Scheme, which is administered by SUSI on behalf of my department, is demand led and as such the numbers applying each year can change for reasons such as demographics and the expansion and extension of alternative educational opportunities. It is therefore not possible to consider the number of new applicant's who may apply for supports under the student grant scheme in any given year. 

However, to date for the academic year, 2021/22 15,215 awards have been made by SUSI to students who were eligible for a full Band A adjacent maintenance grant rate of €1,415 .  If all of those students were to see their grant increased by €1,000 to €2,415, the estimated cost of for full-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level is in the region of €15.2m.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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179. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending an adjacent maintenance grant to part-time students at undergraduate and postgraduate level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28501/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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During the 2020/2021 academic year,(the latest year that data is available)  statistics  from the Higher Education Authority show that there were 49,658 students studying at all levels in our publicly funded institutions on a part time basis.

The costs of extending the SUSI grant scheme to these part time students would depend on an assessment to see if they meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to course mode, nationality, residency, previous academic attainment (progression) and means. As they have not been assessed under the SUSI scheme, we do not know how many of these students would be eligible to receive SUSI grant funding if they were eligible to apply.  

It is also the case that we would not have details on the distance that these part time students reside from their college to specifically give a cost estimate of extending the adjacent maintenance grant rate to part time students. 

However the following will give you an indication of estimated costs of extending the  special adjacent maintenance rate of the SUSI scheme to part time students:

- If 10,000 of these students were deemed eligible for the 2022/23 adjacent special maintenance rate (€2,575), we would estimate a cost of €25.75m.

- If 20,000 of these students were deemed eligible, we would estimate a cost of €51.5m.

- If 30,000 of these students were deemed eligible, we would estimate a cost of €77.25m. 

- If all 49,658 of these students were deemed eligible, we would estimate a cost of €127.87m 

These estimates do not include an estimation of extending funding to part time students under the free fees initiative which would be an additional cost to the exchequer.