Part-time students could get access to loan scheme

PART-time students could be included in a loans scheme to cover tuition fees instead of paying the entire cost up-front, under one option in a report presented by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe to fellow Cabinet members.

The document outlines five main options on the funding of third-level tuition, for which the Government pays more than €300 million a year under the free fees initiative introduced in the mid-1990s.

Mr O’Keeffe has given a copy of the report compiled by his officials to each minister and expects their responses in the coming months. While it was not discussed at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, it is understood the minister is anxious to discuss their responses when they reconvene in September, although he has not set out any timescale to his ministerial colleagues.