I am very conscious of the cost pressures facing students who pay for student accommodation or who commute long distances to their institutions. The Student Grant Scheme also recognises this by providing a higher non-adjacent maintenance grant rate for students whose normal residence is 30km or more from their institution.
Students this academic year are benefitting from Budget 2025 which increased all income thresholds to avail of a student grant including increasing all standard rate thresholds by at least 15%.
In addition, I was delighted in Budget 2026 to: -
• Reduce the student contribution charge permanently by €500 commencing this academic year which will benefit c108,000 students.
• Increase all non-adjacent maintenance grant rates, c30,000 students this academic year will see a pro-rata increase of between €111-239.
• Permanently increase the Post Graduate Fee Contribution Grant by €500 from €4,000 to €4,500 benefitting over 2000 students.
From September 2026
Students will see the full benefit of non-adjacent maintenance grant rate increases with the: -
• Non-Adjacent Special Rate increasing by €350
• Band 1 Non-Adjacent Rate increasing by €430
• Bands 2-4 Non-Adjacent Rates increasing by €200
The income threshold for the special rate of grant will increase in line with social welfare from €27,400 to €28,600.
The income threshold for the €500 student contribution grant will increase from €115,000-€120,000. Combined with the permanent fee reduction, this means that eligible undergraduate students whose households earning are under €120,000 will pay no more than €2,000 towards the student contribution charge in the 26/27 academic year.
