Vol. 497 No. 2
393 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans, if any, he has to change the qualifying criteria for independent mature students applying for third level grant, whereby their normal residence is taken as their usual home address rather than their accommodation address while attending college. [24549/98]
Under the terms of the student support schemes, a mature student is defined as a student who is at least 23 years of age on 1 January of the year of entry to an approved course and mature students are categoried as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his or her parents from the October preceding their entry to an approved course.
Independent mature students are deemed to be self-supporting and are assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address.
An independent mature student's residence for the purpose of determining the rate of grant payable under the scheme is their residence for the purpose of attending college. If this address is 15 miles or less from the college being attended, the adjacent rate of grant is payable. If the address is more than 15 miles from the college the non-adjacent rate is payable. However, where an indepenent mature student can produce evidence that that he/she is maintaining a residence other than their address while attending college it is open to the local authority to regard that address as the student's normal residence.
I am concerned about mature students generally and independent mature students in particular and I am reviewing the current arrangements.
394 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will reconsider and approve the full rate of maintenance grant for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo other than an adjacent grant in view of the fact that her permanent home address is in Mayo. [24550/98]
The student to whom the Deputy refers made an application to Dublin Corporation as an independent mature student under the higher education grants scheme and was subsequently awarded the full adjacent rate of maintenance grant.
Under the terms of the student support schemes, the rate of maintenance grant payable is determined by reference to the distance from the student's normal residence to the college which he or she is attending.
In the case of independent mature students, normal residence is defined as the address of the candidate while in attendance at college. If this address is 15 miles or less from the college which he or she is attending, the adjacent rate of maintenance grant is payable. If the address is more than 15 miles from the college, the non-adjacent rate of grant is payable. However, where an independent mature student can produce supporting evidence that he or she is maintaining a residence other than his or her address while attending college, it will be open to the awarding authority to regard that address as the candidate's normal residence.
As this student's normal residence is less than 15 miles from the Dublin Institute of Technology, which is the third level institution she is attending, she has been awarded the correct level of maintenance grant.
