Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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118. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans, if any, he has in relation to changes to the SUSI grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40591/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Improvements to the student grant scheme has been a priority for me since taking up my Ministerial appointment and I have made many improvements benefitting thousands of students. My Department will continue to invest in higher education in tandem with the reform programme.

The Budget 2023 package announced last October provided a number of measures that will offer relief to students for the 2023/2024 academic year including:

• An increase to Maintenance grants effective from January 2023
• A reduction of €500 in the student contribution fee for eligible grant applicants earning between €62,000 and €100,000.
• The threshold for the student contribution 50% grant has been increased from €55,240 to €62,000.
• 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 Post Graduate Students who are eligible for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution towards the cost of their Tuition Fees.
• 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;
• An 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.
• €3m in funding for mental health and wellbeing initiatives for the 2023/24 academic year.