Reductions in student registration fees and an increase in grants are on the table, Harris says

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said he is “very clear” that third-level students and their families must be helped in the coming budget.

Mr Harris’s department has published an options paper on how to deal with the increased cost of living for students. It envisaged a cut of up to €1,000 in the €3,000 student contribution charge for certain families.

Mr Harris said there would be an increase in the Susi (Student Universal Support Ireland) grants of 25-33 per cent in the new academic year.

The options paper is also examining how increasing the income threshold for qualification by 10 per cent would allow an additional 15,000 students to benefit from a student grant at a cost to the exchequer of about €12.5 million.

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“We will definitely be doing more in the budget both with the immediate cost-of-living measures and through the regular 2022-2023 budget,” he said.

“There are two parts to the budget. There is the immediate cost-of-living measures which kick in between now and Christmas. Then there is the regular 2023 Budget. I’m very clear in my view that students and their families need to be part of both elements in the budget. We will know in three weeks or just about what is happening.”

Mr Harris said more than a thousand rooms were now available for students through the recently announced rent-a-room scheme and Government approval was now in place for direct exchequer funding for student union accommodation.

He suggested that students should look further than Daft or MyHome.ie for accommodation and look at the student portals online.

Mr Harris announced a grant of more than €4.5 million for Drogheda Institute of Further Education (DIFE). It will fund a multipurpose building on the campus which will be integrated and developed with Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

He also announced that Navan would have a third-level campus for the Louth and Meath Education Training Board (LMETB). It will consolidate the LMETB offices into one building in the town and give Youthreach a permanent centre in the town.

Mr Harris said he hoped to announce €250 million worth of capital projects for third-level projects by the end of the year.