An increase in the threshold for top-up maintenance grants for students from poor backgrounds has been welcomed by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).
Following a decision by the Department of Education, to qualify for the £1,225 grant a student's parents must now earn less than £7,400. This is a 12 per cent increase on last year's figure of £6,600.
The top-up grants were recommended by the action group on third-level access, whose final report was published last month.
USI called on the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, to implement all the report's recommendations.
Mr Richard Hammond, president of USI, said: "While we welcome this step, we are puzzled by the Minister's inconsistency in relation to income limits. Earlier this year he announced that the income limits for the ordinary student grant were to be increased by just 6 per cent. Now he is increasing the income limits for the special rate of top-up grant by twice that amount, 12 per cent."
He added: "Why the inconsistency? It certainly cannot be argued that the income limits for the ordinary grant are too generous. After all, to be eligible for a maintenance grant a student's parents must both be earning less than £5.20 per hour," he said.
Mr Colm Jordan, education officer with USI and a member of the action group, said: "While we welcome the top-up grant payments we will not let Minister Woods ignore the rest of the recommendations in this report."