Vol. 352 No. 5
asked the Minister for Education if she is aware of the anomaly affecting mature students that they may not qualify for higher education grants unless they do the leaving certificate examination again in the year prior to their application; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
308.
asked the Minister for Education if she will make arrangements to enable mature students to be eligible to apply for grants under the higher education grants scheme subject to the normal regulations applicable to all applicants, and accepting the required academic attainments in the leaving certificate examination in any year, rather than in the year previous to application, as at present.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 307 and 308 together.
The higher education grants scheme applicable to any candidate for a grant is the scheme of the year he/she qualified academically for a grant by virtue of successes in the leaving certificate examination. In order to be eligible for a grant the candidate would have to satisfy the other provisions, including the means test, of the scheme applicable to him/her. Under the schemes from 1975 to 1982, inclusive, a person who qualified for a grant could, subject to certain conditions, have the grant deferred for a period of up to two years and, in exceptional circumstance, for a period in excess of two years. My Department are prepared to consider as sympathetically as possible any proposals from the local authorities administering the scheme concerning the question of the deferment of grant under the schemes for those years in the case of any person who qualified fully for grant under the relevant scheme.
Under the scheme for 1983 and subsequent years there is no limit on the period which may elapse between the year in which the student qualifies academically for a grant in the leaving certificate examination and the year of entry on an approved course of third level education subject to compliance with the other relevant conditions of the appropriate scheme.
