Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 September 2018
186. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if an anomaly in the SUSI system whereby students can work during the Easter mid-term and not during the October mid-term will be rectified (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38685/18]
View answerThe assessment of means under the student grant scheme is based on gross income from all sources, with certain social welfare and health service executive payments being exempt.
In the assessment of means, a deduction can be made for holiday earnings made by the applicant from employment outside of term time but within the reference period. I increased the value of this income disregard from €3,809 to €4,500 in the 2016 scheme.
The periods normally considered as holidays are the 2 weeks at Easter, the 12 weeks of summer (June, July and August) and the 2 weeks at Christmas. If the holiday periods for a particular course/college were not consistent with these dates, SUSI may ask for a letter from the college confirming the term dates; so that the student’s income can be considered as holiday earnings.
The onus is on the grant applicant to provide the necessary documentary evidence to SUSI in order to have the relevant holiday earnings deducted from the reckonable income.
Further details can be obtained at the following link:
http://susi.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/349/~/what-are-considered-holiday-earnings%3F.
