Education ministry says more students benefiting from stipends

Stipends awarded to students that study at post-secondary and tertiary level will not be reduced, the education ministry said today.

11 February 2011, 12:00am

“More students are benefiting from stipends because government investment has increased,” the ministry said in a statement.

Stipends for sixth-form and university students will cost the governmnet €23 million in 2011, while 1,100 students have already benefited from scholarships.

Minister Dolores Cristina said there was no question of reducing stipends, and that the financing of university could take place using several different models. “Stipends had been reduced by a Labour government when it forced students to take our bank loans to finance their studies,” Cristina said.