Funding for third level education for asylum seekers and Ukrainians has cost at least €49 million from 2022-2025, data released in answer to a Parliamentary question has found.
€48,684,770 was provided to assist Ukrainian students, while €157,806 was spent by the Department of Further and Higher Education on funding and access supports to international protection students, with a total spend of €48,842,576 in the period.
While the reply covered the 2022/2023 to 2025/2026 educational year, data past 26 November was not included and most estimates are expected to increase for the 2025/2026 period.
Independent TD, Carol Nolan, had asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education “to provide a complete list of funding and access supports made available by his Department to students in the international protection system and students who are beneficiaries of temporary protection” from 2022-2025.
The Offaly TD also asked for information on the total number of students who have availed of these opportunities and the total costs incurred for same from 2022 to date in 2025.
In reply, Minister James Lawless said that asylum seekers and displaced persons from Ukraine were able to avail of education supports, including through the following schemes:-
- International Protection Students (IPS) Scheme;
- Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) Bursary for Displaced persons (Ukraine) Scheme;
- Student Grant Scheme and the Student Part-Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses;
- Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme for displaced Persons (Ukraine) (TTFSS); and
- Free Fees Initiative as well as the Beneficiary of Temporary Protection (BOTP) Stipend.
Ukrainians students could avail of Grants and Stipends in addition to Tuition Fee support. Further details of those supports were provided in tables.
PLC Bursaries, Grant Schemes for Undergraduate courses, Tuition Fee Support Scheme and Stipends for Ukrainians
Funding for the PLC Bursary for Displaced persons (Ukraine) scheme came to €8,596,800 over the period.
To be eligible, students must be in attendance of a SOLAS approved PLC Course. As before, the data for 2025/26 is only complete to 26 November 2025 and will change as SUSI continues to process applications for academic year 2025/26.
An average of €5,553 was provided per student in 2022/23, while the comparative figure for funding per student reached €5,714 in 2023/24 and fell to €3,198 in 2024/25.
The Department also provided data for expenditure on the Student Grant Scheme & the Student Part-Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses for 2025 for beneficiaries of temporary protection (Ukrainians).
That came to €1,106,277 for 2025/2026, though the total for 2025/26 will increase as SUSI continues to process applications for academic year, the Department said.
Grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in higher education institution and who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means, the Department said.
In addition, some €18,400,000 was provided for the Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme for Displaced Persons (Ukraine) in the period to support eligible new entrant and continuing undergraduate students. As before, the data for 2025/26 is only complete to 26 November 2025 and final numbers and costs for the 2025/26 academic year will be confirmed at the end of the academic year.
An average of €4,912 was paid per student for tuition fee support in the period.
In regard to the Free Fees Initiative, the Minister said that full-time undergraduate students that are Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection may be eligible to avail of the Free Fees Initiative subject to meeting the scheme criteria, including residency.
To meet the eligibility criteria for the Free Fees Initiative residency criteria a student must have been resident in a qualifying jurisdiction for 3 of the previous 5 years prior to starting their course.
For the 2025/2026 academic year, new entrant students whose initial Temporary Permission was granted by the Minister for Justice more than 3 Years before the start of the 2025/ 2026 Academic Year fee support is via the Free Fees Scheme rather than the aforementioned Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme, the Minister said.
Nationality information is not collated as part of the Free Fees Initiative claims process, as administered by the HEA, and information on the number of Ukrainian students or persons with an International protection, such as official refugee status, availing of free fees is not currently available, the Minister added.
In addition, a BOTP Stipend, which is a temporary Scheme for the Academic Year 25/26 for eligible BOTPs whose Temporary Protection Permission was granted less than 3 years before the start of the 2025/2026 Academic Year and have been resident in the State for the preceding six months prior to the 1st of October 2025.
In the case of students in this cohort whose primary address is less than 30kms to their college, the stipend will amount to €3,230 per annum. For those living 30kms or more from their college, it will amount to €7,586 per annum, the Minister said.
A total of €20,581,693 was provided in stipends to Ukrainian students.
Funding provided in 2022 was co-funded through the ERASMUS National Grant, while figures for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are the expected figures, and final numbers and costs for the 2025/26 academic year will be confirmed at the end of the academic year, the Minister said.
International Protection Students (IPS) Scheme: €157,806
In total, €157,806 was provided in funding to students qualifying for support in the academic years 2022/2023 to 2025/2026 under the International Protection Students (IPS) Scheme. However, that total was likely to increase, since the data was complete to 26 November 2025 and SUSI continues to process applications for academic year 2025/26, the Minister said.
An average of €6,000 was provided per student in 2022/23, while the comparative figure for funding per student reached €8,505 in 2023/24 and fell to €4,767 in 2024/25.
