Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018
218. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills if non-rental properties owned that are not primary residences are assessed for capital means for student grant purposes; if so, the calculations used for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46597/18]
View answerThe means test arrangements of the Student Grant Scheme are applied nationally. Student grant applications are means tested on gross income from all sources earned inside and outside the State within a specified reference period. In the case of both employed and self-employed applicants, gross income, before deduction of income tax or universal social charge, is assessed with certain specified social welfare and health service executive payments excluded. Therefore, all income is assessed from the same starting point, eliminating any distortion which might arise from different spending decisions in different households.
Part 3 of the Student Grant Scheme 2018 deals with issues governing the determination of reckonable income. In calculating reckonable income, no account is taken of capital assets. However, income from all sources, whether it arises in the State or not, including rental and other income from land and property are considered as part of the means test for student grants.
