Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 October 2011
49 Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a third level grant in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31744/11]
View answerThe processing of student grants is carried out by local grant awarding authorities — VECs and local authorities. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the details that would be contained in a student grant application form, it would not be possible for me to say if a student would qualify for a grant. However, to satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course. The objective of this policy is to help as many students as possible in obtaining one qualification at each level of study thereby increasing their employment prospects. Given the level of demand on the student grant budget from first time students and students that are progressing with their studies to a higher level, there are no plans at present to change the arrangements in place.
