Fergus O'Dowd
Question:183 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Science if an application for a higher education grant by a person (details supplied) in County Louth can be reviewed. [19064/04]
View answerTuesday, 29 June 2004
Questions (185)
Written answers
Under the terms of my Department's grant scheme, maintenance grants are available to eligible students pursuing approved undergraduate courses in other EU member states, including the UK. Students attending approved courses in other member states are subject to the same conditions of funding as students attending approved courses in the State. The main conditions of funding relate to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment.
The scheme operates 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. 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.
When assessing the means of students other than independent mature students, the Acts specify that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. The provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of circumstances in any case where the student is not an independent mature student. Generally speaking, candidates continue to be assessed under the terms and conditions of the scheme appropriate to their year of entry. Accordingly, candidates who were not classified as independent mature students at the time of entry to an approved course may not generally be assessed as such for the duration of their course.
There is provision for candidates who are re-entering as mature students, following a break in study of at least one year, to pursue or complete an approved course for the first time. Such candidates may be assessed under the terms of the scheme appropriate to the year in which they re-enter. Candidates who were not independent mature students at the time of entry to an approved course may be reclassified as same for the purpose of completing a course or commencing a subsequent course. Unless students meet the prescribed age requirement at the time of entry or re-entry to an approved course, they may not be assessed as an independent mature student under the terms of the scheme.
The candidate in question does not meet the requirements to be assessed as an independent mature student. His reckonable income exceeds the prescribed income limits for a grant. I regret that it is not possible to allow grant aid in this case.