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Student Grant Recipients: A Collaborative Data Analysis
3. Non-progression Analysis
As noted in the Introduction, the HEA has a Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) in place with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), the national grant awarding authority. Through the DSA, SUSI has transferred data to the HEA which provides data from 2017/2018 to 2022/23 grant recipients. The data transferred includes students’ grant rates, adjacency rates and distance from college.
An analysis of SUSI grant awardees among New Entrants to Higher Education, and their non-progression outcomes 2017/18 to 2021/22, can be accessed in Word and PDF formats below. This report includes a focus on the 2021/22 year, assessing the role of the different student background factors in explaining differences in non-progression outcomes based on whether students received a SUSI grant
Purpose of this report and analytical approach
Readers are requested to take into account the analytical note included in the Introduction, noting that this report stands alone analytically within this suite of reports.
The purpose of this report is to examine non-progression outcomes among New Entrants who were awarded a SUSI grant and compare this group to New Entrants who did not receive a SUSI grant.
Non-progression describes whether New Entrants to Higher Education in Ireland re-enrol at their institution in their second year and is an important measure for capturing early outcomes for students who are new to Higher Education. The HEA has published extensive and detailed analysis of non-progression for many years and has recently published analysis for the latest year available, students beginning their Higher Education journey in the 2021/22 year.
For the Non-progression Analysis, the HEA definition of new entrants is as follows:
- Level 6, 7, 8 programmes including: higher certificates, ordinary degrees, undergraduate honours degree
- Full-time mode of study
- First year students
- New entrant student code
Each student is also assigned a “non-progression indicator” which signifies the students progression from first to second year, or otherwise. PPSN is used as the basis for linking of data between HEA and SUSI datasets. However, readers should note that not all these students have a PPSN. Those that don’t have a PPSN are mainly internationally-domiciled students.
In this report we describe the sample through frequencies and proportions, showing differences between the two groups in factors related to their sociodemography, their Higher Education choices and circumstances, and their background schooling including Leaving Certificate points attainment.
We summarise the five-year trend and provide a more detailed description of the latest cohort, 2021/22 New Entrants. Differences in these characteristics between those were and were not awarded a SUSI grant will provide guidance for interpreting their Higher Education outcomes.
Then we describe the non-progression outcomes for the groups over five years while also examining outcomes for different types of SUSI grant awards. In the final section, we highlight the 2021/22 year and assess the role of the different student background factors in explaining differences in non-progression outcomes based on whether students received a SUSI grant. This is achieved through multivariate binary logistic regression modelling, with each of the background factors added hierarchically to tease apart their effect on the relationship between receiving a SUSI award and likelihood of non-progression.
It should be noted that the dataset in this analysis does not encompass the full cohort of students in receipt of a SUSI grant. Other grant holders, such as those in further education, those in non-HEA-funded institutions and those studying abroad are not included in the analysis. This analysis is restricted to those studying higher education in HEA-funded institutions.
Further, readers should note that this report considers the HEA definition of non-progression, which differs from that of SUSI: a SUSI applicant must be deemed to be progressing in their education in order to be eligible for a grant, either moving from one year to the next or advancing in their level of education, i.e., PLC → Undergraduate → Postgraduate.
More details on the grant system and the methodology behind this report can be found on the Methodology and Definitions page.
Key Findings
A summary of the key findings is given as follows:
- The number of New Entrants awarded a SUSI grant declined between 2017/18 and 2021/22, while the total number of New Entrants increased over the same period.
- Compared to those not receiving an award, a higher proportion of SUSI awardees were female, aged 23 years and older, attended technological universities, and whose parental home was in a deprived area.
- For New Entrants in the 2021/22 year, SUSI awardees had a non-progression rate of 19.1% compared to 13.6% among those not awarded a SUSI grant. The relative proportional difference in the rate of non-progression was observed in each of the earlier years also, notwithstanding considerable fluctuations in the overall non-progression rate in the period.
- In a more detailed analysis of the 2021/22 year, those awarded a SUSI grant had a 50% higher odds of non-progression before considering other factors. After adjusting for a detailed set of socio-demographic, higher education, background schooling and academic performance indicators, those awarded a grant had an 8% higher odds of non-progression compared to those who were not.
- Among those who were awarded a SUSI grant, those with an adjacent award tended to have a higher rate of non-progression than those with a non-adjacent award. However, the difference between these two groups has declined in more recent years.
- Among those awarded a SUSI grant, for each category of higher qualifying income, students had a lower rate of non-progression. In 2021/22, those in the lowest qualifying income group (below €24,500) had a rate of non-progression of 22.3%, while those in the highest qualifying income group (€39,875-€54,240) had a rate of 16.6%. The proportional difference in non-progression between the groups was relatively stable over time.