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Higher Education Grants.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 November 2004

Tuesday, 23 November 2004

Questions (435, 436)

Damien English

Question:

485 Mr. English asked the Minister for Education and Science if a person (details supplied) in County Meath will be given a grant for a two-year degree course in embalming for a college in California; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30311/04]

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Written answers

The position is that none of the third level student support schemes operated under the aegis of the Department extend to undergraduate courses outside the European Union. Apart from the funds provided specifically for the purposes of the third level student support schemes, there are no other moneys at the disposal of the Department of Education and Science out of which financial assistance could be made available for study for a college in California.

Damien English

Question:

486 Mr. English asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15 will not be classified as a mature student and still has to submit their family income details to qualify for grant aid from the local authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30326/04]

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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 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 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 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. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not an independent mature student.

With regard to the student referred to by the Deputy, Meath County Council confirmed that the student was assessed as a dependent mature student on the year of entry of his approved course and will, therefore, continue to be assessed as such for the duration of the course. To assess the eligibility of the candidate for a maintenance grant, the local authority must examine the income details of both the candidate and of the parents in this case.

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