No rise in student grant payments

MORE than 60,000 students must survive on the same grant levels again in the next college year despite rising costs and fewer part-time work opportunities.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan yesterday announced details of the income thresholds to qualify for maintenance grants next autumn and the amounts payable for eligible students.

But although they are largely unchanged from this year’s levels, as revealed by the Irish Examiner last week, the number of qualifying students may increase by several thousand as a result of the continued drop in incomes and a rise in unemployment since grant applications opened last year.