Free schoolbooks up to Junior Cycle at second level and €1,000 cut to third-level fees in budget

Free schoolbooks and classroom resources will be delivered for all students at second level entering first year, second year and third year from September 2024.

It is one of a number of measures in the Department of Education’s €10.5 billion budget for 2024 which includes additional funding for school running costs and the appointment of additional teachers and special needs assistants.

At third level, a key focus of the Department of Further and Higher Education’s €4.1 billion budget is on cushioning education costs.

It includes the continuation of last year’s “once-off” €1,000 cut to the €3,000 student registration charge. There are also increased student maintenance grants and, for the first time, grants to cover the cost of fees for part-time undergraduates in some cases.

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The free schoolbook measure at second level, meanwhile, will benefit more than 210,000 students and their families. It is estimated to be worth just over €310 per student.

It will not be available to the 27,000-plus students attending 50 fee-charging second level schools, however.

The measure, forecast to cost €67 million, builds on last year’s decision to provide free schoolbooks at primary level for all pupils in the free sector. It means a total of almost 800,000 students will have access to free schoolbooks next September.

Minister for Education Norma Foley is also due to announce that €81 million in capitation funding will be delivered to schools as part of cost of living measures and core funding increases from the start of next year.

Her officials said this funding will restore capitation rates to pre-2011 levels, alongside an additional €61 million to assist schools with increased day-to-day running costs such as heating and electricity.

Funding is being allocated to hire an additional 1,216 special needs assistant posts and 744 additional teachers in special education and mainstream classes.

Higher and further education

Last year’s “once-off” €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for the free fees initiative is continued again in this year’s budget.

This, along with a permanent cut of €500 in the student contribution fee for eligible families announced last year (for households on incomes of between €62,000 and €100,000) means college fees have halved to €1,500 for many students.

There is also a once-off increase to the postgraduate fee contribution grant from €4,000 to €5,000, as well as a reduction of 33 per cent in the contribution fee for apprentices in higher education.

Renters’ tax credit is being extended to parents who pay for student children’s rent in the case of the rent-a-room scheme or “digs”. This change will also apply retrospectively for the years 2022 and 2023.

The further and higher education budget also includes the removal of Post Leaving Cert (PLC) fees from September 2024.

In addition, grant changes include an increase to all non-adjacent maintenance rates by €615 and adjacent maintenance rates by 10 per cent from September 2024. Eligible PLC and undergraduate students will see a pro-rata increase effective from January 2024.

Student maintenance grants for postgraduates will be restored from September 2024 for the first time since the financial crash. A pro-rata increase will also be effective from January 2024.

Changes in grant thresholds also mean that from September 2024, student contribution fees will be abolished for all incomes under €55,924.

For the first time ever, this will include students on specified part-time undergraduate and online courses.

In 2023 and into 2024, €194 million will be provided to higher education including €60 million in core funding to address student-staff ratios.

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said the measures sought to reduce the cost of education as much as possible.

“Last year’s student contribution measures made a significant difference to students’ lives and their wellbeing. That’s why this year we are repeating these measures,” he said.

“This Department is going beyond what was set out in the Programme for Government as we have now reduced the contribution fee over several years.