Three students have claimed in the High Court that the Minister for Education's decision to cut their maintenance grants is unfair and unjust.
The action is regarded as a test case brought on behalf of students attending various third level colleges around the country and is supported by the USI. It is opposed by the Minister.
The case is being brought by Medb McCarthy, Murtyclough, Burren, Co Clare, an Arts student at NUI Galway, also Robert Johnson, of Lattonalbany, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan doing business studies at Dundalk IT and Iesha Rowan, Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co Galway, a mature student doing business studies at the Galway-Mayo IT.
The case opened today before Mr Justice John Hedigan and is continuing.
The outcome is likely to affect thousands of people attending third level colleges.
The changes were proposed by the previous Government in December 2010 and implemented in the 2011 Budget.
The three students were due to get grants of approximately €6,100 to €6,700 per year but the cuts resulted in losses of between €2,440 and €3,900 each, it is claimed.
One of the main changes to the scheme was to double the distance required to qualify for the non-adjacent grant rate from 24km to 45km for all existing and new applicants from September 2011.
