Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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137. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports he has provided in Budget 2023 to help with the costs of going to college both in terms of fees and grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51362/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In Budget 2023, I gave priority to introducing a significant package of measures that will see students and families directly benefit and will help them tackle the challenges posed by the increased cost of living.

In 2022 these measures include:

- Higher education students who are eligible for the fees initiative will benefit from a once off reduction in the student contribution rate of €1,000 for the 2022/2023 academic year. Students eligible for a 50% student contribution grant support as paid by SUSI will benefit proportionally and will see the amount they pay to their institution reduce from €1,500 to €1,000.

- A reduction of up to 33% in the contribution fee for apprentices for the 2022/2023 academic year

- A once-off additional maintenance payment to be paid on the 16th December 2022. This payment will be made to all students who are in receipt of a maintenance grant payment and will include PLC students, undergraduate students and postgraduate students who are in receipt of the Special Rate of Grant,

- Post Graduate Students who meet the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant will benefit from a once off increase in their grant of €1,000 from €3,500 to €4,500.

- I have also secured a further €8 million of funding for the Student Assistance Fund for the current academic year. This will mean that for the 2022/23 academic year, there will be €17.1m available through this fund.

- PhD students funded by SFI and the IRC will also benefit from a once off payment of €500 in the current academic year.

In addition, all maintenance grants are increasing effective from January 2023 in order to provide further financial assistance to those students most in need. The special rate and Band 1 rate of maintenance will increase by 14% and all other maintenance grant rates will increase by 10%. Students in the current academic year will see their grant payments increase proportionately once this measure comes into effect from January 2023. It is important to note that the increase which is effective from January 2023 will not be backdated to the start of the 2022/23 academic year.

Other measures that will offer relief to students for the 2023/2024 academic year include:

- A reduction of €500 in the student contribution fee for eligible grant applicants earning between €62,000 and €100,000; This measure will benefit some 42,000 students.

- The threshold for the student contribution 50% grant has been increased from €55,240 to €62,000; This measure will benefit some 8,000 students

- An increase in the Post Graduate fee Contribution Grant by €500 on 2022 levels from €3,500 to €4,000 from September 2023; This measure will benefit postgraduate students who are eligible for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution towards the cost of their Tuition Fees. That means postgraduate students whose reckonable income is up to €55,240 and who are not eligible for the special rate of grant will benefit.

- A €500 increase to the stipend baseline in 2023 for PhD students who receive an IRC or SFI award.

- A change to the eligibility criteria for “second chance” mature students as defined in the Student Grant Scheme reducing the period for a full break in studies from 5 to 3 years.

- Increase in the deduction allowable for student earnings outside of term time from €4,500 to €6,552 for academic year 2023/2024.

- Exclusion of rental income up to €14,000 declared to Revenue under the Government’s rent-a-room relief scheme when calculating reckonable income under the Student Grant Scheme.

These changes will see a real and tangible reduction in costs for students and families.