Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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540. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will outline the process to obtain the €1,000 refund for college fees as recently announced in Budget 2023; if he will consider matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59337/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As part of Budget 2023, I secured a significant cost of living package for third level students, including a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes.

Under this measure, eligible students will have the student contribution they are due to pay reduce from €3,000 to €2,000 in 2022/23. 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.

The key information for eligible students is that:

- Free fees eligible students who are paying their student contribution in two instalments will have the amount reduced from their next instalment by their institution during semester two.

- Students who have already paid their 2022/23 student contribution in full during semester one will be able to receive a refund from their institution before the end of this year and the refund process has commenced.

- Where requested, eligible students should provide payment details to their institution by 30th of November 2022 to facilitate a refund from the institution. If a student does not provide the required details, the higher education institution may apply a credit against any outstanding or future fees due.

The overall application of the reduction in 2022/23 fees payable by eligible students and the provision of any refunds due for eligible students will be administered with the assistance of the higher education institutions (HEIs).

My Department, the HEA, IUA, THEA and the individual institutions appreciate the need for eligible students to benefit from the cost of living measure as soon as possible. Guidance material for the institutions and students on the operation of this once off cost of living measure was issued in October.

HEIs were asked to take the following approach:

- inform students of the application process for refunds and open the application process

- identify all students who are eligible for a refund and, where not already available, contact the students to provide account details to facilitate a refund

- commence refunds on a rolling basis where possible

- where individual students eligible for a refund promptly provide the necessary payment information to process a refund, they should receive a refund as soon as possible and the refund process should not wait until the end of November to commence

As referenced above, the refund process is underway and I am grateful to the HEA, the representative bodies and the HEIs for their ongoing work to ensure eligible students benefit from this cost of living measure in a timely manner.

Additional information for students is available on gov.ie www.gov.ie/en/news/f20ab-budget-2023-1000-government-contribution-to-student-contribution-for-free-fee-scheme-students-in-academic-year-2022-to-2023/ and where a student has a query on their eligibility to benefit under the above measures or requires advice on how the scheme will be administered by individual institutions students can engage directly with the institution attended.