Minister Harris publishes options paper on reducing cost of education

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris has today published 'Funding the Future: An annual options paper on reducing the cost of higher education'.

This paper is a non-exhaustive list of options to be considered in advance of Budget 2023 and is published without prejudice to eventual Government Budget decisions.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said:

“In May, we launched ‘Funding the Future’, a funding and reform framework for higher education.

“As part of the policy, the government committed to publishing an annual paper which examines the costs associated with a range of options available to support students with the cost and accessibility of higher education.

“Today we publish this. It is important to stress these are the options available and are do not pre-empt the budgetary process.”

The options contained in this paper are intended to identify the cost of different measures, such as the costs associated with:

reducing the student contribution
increasing the number of students in receipt of a student grant
increasing the rate of this grant
other measures that will reduce the financial burden of going to college on families and students

In addition, over time, the annual options paper will consider progress and costings of other strategic priorities, particularly the extension of supports to enable more flexible forms of learning including blended, online and part-time, and simplification of the student grant system to make it more learner-friendly.