Grant changes hit poorer students

Changes to student grant eligibility may be compounding the reduced likelihood of poorer people who live further from college going to third-level education, researchers claim.

They say the Department of Education should review the distance from college that students must live to qualify for higher grant rates, after it was increased two years ago from 24 to 45 kilometres.

The research paper by experts from NUI Galway, University of Limerick and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) concluded that travel distance is not an important factor in deciding the participation of all school-leavers in higher education.