`The grant's a joke but we're not laughing." That was the catchy slogan and title of the policy paper published last year by the Union of Students of Ireland on student financial support. More than a joke however, the grant is so inadequate that potential third-level students are deterred from going to college while others at college are forced to take on jobs "just to survive" when they should be studying or doing what students "do" says Colm Jordan, education officer with the USI. In the worst cases some students are forced to drop out of college altogether, he says.

Grants are awarded by local authorities and local Vocational Educational Committees. The maximum grant a student at third level can receive is £1,775 a year. To qualify for the maximum grant the student's parents' combined income must be no more than £20,200 a year and their home more than 15 miles from the college. If they live within 15 miles of college the grant is £710 per year.

There is also part-maintenance which, if the parents' combined income is between £20,200 and £21,406 a year, is £887 a year for those living more than 15 miles from college, or £355 a year if their family home is within 15 miles of college. Some 40 per cent of the estimated 120,000 third-level students in the State get a grant, with the vast majority of them on the maximum.

The grant is intended to last the student the length of the academic year only, which is reckoned to run from "September/ October to about May excluding holiday periods," according to the Department of Education's student support section. Assuming about six weeks holidays during the academic year, the maximum weekly income from the grant is £49.30. This compares with maximum payments to pensioners, the unemployed and widowers of £106, £85.50 and £102 a week respectively.

The USI is currently demanding a maximum grant of £85 a week, or about £3,060 a year.

The "inadequacy" of the grant is effectively keeping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, out of third-level education, says Jordan.

"Can you imagine coming from a background where there might be no tradition of third-level education, choosing between four years on just about half the average social welfare payment, and getting a low-paid job which could allow them to contribute to their family's income?"

He is supported by Prof Patrick Clancy of UCD, whose 1999 report, Declining A Third Level Offer found one in 10 CAO applicants who turned down an offer of a place at third level did so due to concern about the cost of college.

Outlining a student's expenses, Jordan points to the usual issues of rent, food and clothing but also those of equipment for courses, daily transport and the cost of going home at weekends. Too often this means taking on a job, he says. A survey commissioned by the USI last year found 53 per cent of the 500 students surveyed had part-time jobs.

Taking on a job, means students missing "classes, study-time and the broader experience of third-level life", according to USI Dublin area officer, Garreth Williams. The "hopelessly low" grant also contributes to the "high attrition rate we are seeing", he adds.

A 1999 study by Dr Susan Lindsay of the Dublin Institute of Technology which followed the progress of 262 degree students through their first two years of college found 11.5 per cent either failed or left college.

"Lack of money was cited by 10 per cent. . . as one of the main reasons for leaving or failing," she wrote.

Against all this the Department of Education points out that twice the proportion of students now receive grants as did in 1988/ 89 (up from 20 per cent to 40 per cent) and that the State puts more than £90 million a year into student support schemes.

In November last year Education Minister Michael Woods established an Action Group on Access to Third Level Education. Though initially due to report at the end of March, it has yet to do so. However, a copy of the report, seen by The Irish Times in February, recommended increasing the grant to a maximum of £3,000 for those living away from home and to about £1,000 for those at home.

Woods said last November that he would implement the group's recommendations when it reported. A spokeswoman for the Department says the report is "due shortly".