Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2004
375 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science her views on the equity of a case (details supplied); her legislative proposals to remove the inequity if she views it as inequitable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33436/04]
View answerUnder the terms of the Department's maintenance grants schemes, and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Act 1992, a mature student is defined as a candidate who is at least 23 years of age on the 1 January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course.
Mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined as meaning 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 means test provision of the scheme specifies 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.
From information provided by the Deputy to my Department, it would appear that the 28 year old student referred to, for whom the Deputy did not provide specific details, was assessed as a mature student, and therefore automatically qualified for the non-adjacent rate of grant once she satisfied the eligibility criteria. In addition, it would appear that this student has also qualified for the special rates of maintenance grant, top-up grant, which results in a monthly grant of approximately €535.
The 22 year old student was assessed as a dependent student, in line with the terms of the maintenance grant schemes and qualified for lower adjacent rate of maintenance grant. It would appear that this student is not in receipt of the top-up grant.
If the Deputy has a particular issue in either of the two cases referred to which he wishes to bring to my attention, I would have them examined having regard to the terms and conditions of the schemes. The Deputy will appreciate that the terms of the schemes are of general application and it is not open to me to make exceptions in individual cases. It is not proposed, at present, to change the current terms and conditions in regard to the categorisation of mature students.
