The eligibility limit for the SUSI grant has been increased by €15,000, to a total of €115,000.
This counts a person's "reckonable income" which depends on their status.
The increase is for undergraduate students.
The table below is from the SUSI website and outlines the different eligibility criteria.
The limit was €100,000 previously.
Higher Education Minister, James Lawless said, “We know the cost of going to college can be very difficult for families and every year these costs have been increasing. This is why we have now expanded the scheme, significantly increasing the threshold to assist students and their families."
Minister Lawless had previously said there will not be a €1,000 euro reduction in fees this year, as has been in place in recent years.
Scrap The Fees
However Students Union reps are still calling for fees to be scrapped entirely.
They met with the Minister in Dublin City University today, to discuss the financial burden on students.
Minister James Lawless says he wants to take a permanent approach to reducing fees, and won't be reaching for once of cuts, as mentioned above.
Jamie Mangan, Vice President for Wellbeing in DCU SU, says he wasn't surprised to hear the one thousand euro reduction will likely be ended:
"There's radio silence on the issues that students are facing and there's a lack of accountability. There's a lot of pointing fingers, I think, as well in the Government of not realising that the issues that a student faces is because of the direct actions of the government.
He added, "but they also don't necessarily realise the part that they play in it, and that they can fix it, and they can help."
