Vol. 574 No. 1
274 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in County Laois cannot be assessed on her own means even though she has left home and is a mother of two children and in receipt of her own social welfare payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26133/03]
The Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts 1968 to 1992 provide that the means to be taken into account for the purpose of assessing eligibility under the scheme are those of the student, if any, and of the parents or guardians of the student.
The Acts make special provision for the assessment of means in the case of mature students. Under the terms of the higher education grants scheme, 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 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 assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address. The statutory definition of a mature student is a person of not less than 23 years of age who has reached that age on 1 January in the year of entry to an approved course.
Parental income must, therefore, be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in cases where the student is not a mature student. The other student support schemes have similar provisions in relation to the means assessment of students.
