Reductions to the student contribution charge and expansion of the SUSI grant are being considered by the government ahead of Budget 2023.
These measures were published as part of an options paper released today by Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris outlining a number of options to reduce the cost of higher education.
The paper is the first annual options paper to be published under the government’s “Funding the Future” framework. The framework released in May outlined the government’s plan for sustainable funding of higher education. It proposed a gradual decrease in the student contribution charge alongside an expansion of the SUSI grant. It also committed to an additional €307 million investment in third-level funding over a number of years and detailed plans to address skills shortages and improve the quality of higher education.
Two options are being considered that may reduce the student contribution charge – a flat reduction in the student contribution charge, and an increase in the income limits of SUSI to increase the number of students who qualify for the full student contribution grant or a new €1000 contribution grant.
For the flat reduction option, costings were provided for options ranging from a €100 reduction to a full €3000 reduction which would mean there would be no fees for third level education. The cost of these options ranged from an €8.5 million to €256 million net cost and a €15.1 million to €452.2 million gross cost to the state.
The paper said a flat reduction in fees would benefit an estimated 80,000 – 85,000 students.
The option to reduce the student contribution charge through increasing the SUSI income limits involved increasing the income limit for the 100 per cent student contribution grant to €55,240 and replacing the 50 per cent student contribution grant with a contribution of €1000 with a “substantial income limit”.
Increasing the income limit of the 100 per cent student contribution grant to €55,240 would cost approximately €4.75 million and would mean that all students who currently receive grants would have their full contribution paid. The €1000 contribution has yet to be costed as it “would depend on the number of students who are eligible under a new income limit”.
There are nine options being considered in relation to expanding the SUSI grant. These options include increasing certain adjacent and non-adjacent maintenance grants by 25 per cent, reducing the qualifying distance to avail of the non-adjacent maintenance grant from 30km to 24km and removing the provision which limits the deduction of holiday earnings to “earnings outside of term time”.
A number of other measures being considered include increasing the contribution towards graduate entry medicine fees, increasing funding available to students through the Student Assistance Fund and reducing the time for which a student may qualify as a second chance student through SUSI from five years to three years.
In a press statement on the launch of the paper, Harris said: “In May, we launched ‘Funding the Future’, a funding and reform framework for higher education”.
“As part of the policy, the Government committed to publishing an annual paper which examines the costs associated with a range of options available to support students with the cost and accessibility of higher education”, he continued.
“Today we publish this. It is important to stress these are the options available and do not pre-empt the budgetary process”, he added.
Future annual options papers will also provide the cost of and progress made in achieving other strategic priorities including the extension of supports to allow for more flexible forms of learning such as blended, online and part-time and the simplification of the student grant system.
