Vol. 539 No. 1
389 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a grant payment is not being made to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; if, as a mature student, this person will be entitled to claim the higher education grant for the remaining two years of the course; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18498/01]
The higher education grant schemes operate under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. These Acts define a mature student to mean a person "of not less than 23 years of age, or such other age as may stand specified for the time being in regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, who have secured places in approved institutions and have reached that age on the 1st day of January, or such other date as may be prescribed from time to time by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, in the year of entry to such institutions". The Acts further provide, inter alia, for the making of grants to mature students whose means and those of their parents, where the mature students are dependent on their parents, and the means of their spouses, if any, do not exceed prescribed limits.
Under the terms of the higher education grants schemes, mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature candidate who was not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from 1 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.
When assessing the means of students other that independent mature students, the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account, irrespective of the individual circumstances, in any case where the student is not categorised as an independent mature student.
Officials at Galway County Council, the body charged with administering the scheme in this case, have confirmed that they have not received an application from the student in question. The student should, therefore, contact Galway County Council with a view to having her eligibility for grant assistance assessed by reference to the terms and conditions of the higher education grant scheme relevant to the year of entry to her course.
