Asylum seekers to get chance of third-level with free tuition

Dozens of asylum seekers could be given the chance of a third-level education by the removal of annual fees upward of €15,000 a year after Government backing for a plan to support them.

The move will also make attendance more financially manageable for those who have already started college with the assistance of charity or sponsorship, as they will also qualify for free tuition and access to grant support.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan will announce full details next week of a scheme to treat asylum seekers who have been in the education system for at least five years the same as all Irish and EU citizens.

This will qualify them for free tuition and to apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) for maintenance grants and help with the €3,000 third-level student contribution.

While she first announced plans for such measures four months ago, final aspects are still being worked out with the Department of Justice.

Among them is the issue of courses with a work placement element, because of the legal restrictions on asylum seekers working here. But clarification of what can be defined as employment is expected to cover such situations for students concerned.

The numbers who may benefit are not clear, but are expected to be relatively small, based on figures collected for the working group that reported to the Government in June on improvements to direct provision and other aspects of the asylum-seeking process.

It said 22 people in direct provision were due to sit the Leaving Certificate this summer — one more than last year — and around 100 have done so in the last five years. Around 120 in the asylum-seeking process are likely to sit the Leaving Certificate in the next three to four years, either living in direct provision or other accommodation.

But of the 30-40 who may finish school here each year, only those who have been in Ireland five years or more would come under the terms of the proposed scheme.

They would have to achieve the Leaving Certificate grades needed by all other applicants and accept a place before benefiting.

But it is also planned that funding will be made available through Susi to allow qualifying students to make applications for maintenance grants, which are assessed on income. This will not require any legal or regulatory changes, but it may be another two weeks before Susi will have systems in place to facilitate students involved to apply directly online.

A spokesperson for Ms O’Sullivan said it will be open to students who meet the criteria of the scheme who have already begun a third-level course to benefit from the free tuition and access to grant support.

However, any sponsorship or philanthropic support they may have had to finance them to date will not be reimbursed, as changes to the fees treatment of asylum seekers as non-EU students will not be retrospective.

Because the numbers involved are likely to be quite small, the measure will not require any extra funding, with any grants or student contributions from Susi to be covered from the existing student support budget.

Susi expects to assist around 80,000 students this year, and is already processing 95,000 applications received up to August 1.