Michael Noonan
Question:193 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Education if she has estimated the cost of removing the means test from the present higher education grants scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Higher Education Grants Scheme.
According to the current data on enrolment and student attainment for the universities and certain other institutions in the Higher Education Authority sector, the additional cost to the Exchequer of removing the means test for higher education grants would be approximately £50 million in 1990 prices. This is based on the assumption that full maintenance and fee grants would be awarded to all who qualified under the attainments criteria.
Peter Barry
Question:194 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Education the reason mature students cannot yet obtain grants, even though they fulfil the two criteria, as outlined in her reply to parliamentary question No. 144 of 31 October 1990 (details supplied).
The main provisions for the award of a grant under the higher education grants scheme are as follows:
(i) a candidate must obtain the prescribed successes in the leaving certificate examination of this Department. Successes in equivalent examinations do not meet this requirement;
(ii) the parents or guardians of the candidate must be ordinarily resident in the administrative area of the local authority administering the scheme on 1 October of the year preceding that in which the necessary successes are obtained in the leaving certificate, and
(iii) the total income of the candidate and his/her parents must not exceed the relevant income eligibility limit in the schemes of the year he/she sat the leaving certificate examination.
All candidates must satisfy these provisions. The higher education grants scheme, including the means test tables, applicable in the case of a candidate or a grant is the scheme of the year in which she/he sat the leaving certificate examination.
While there is no specific provision in the higher education grants scheme relating to mature students, there is no upper age limit in the scheme at present and it is, therefore, open to a mature student to sit the leaving cerificate examination in the normal way for the purposes of qualifying for a grant on grounds of academic attainments and means.