Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:277. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) has been refused a SUSI grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12617/20]
View answerTuesday, 23 June 2020
Questions (277)
Written answers
For student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students.
For a dependent student, the reckonable income for grant purposes includes both his/her own income and that of his/her parents/legal guardians.
A student may be assessed as an independent mature student if he or she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st January of the year of first entry to an approved course, or of re-entry following a break in studies of at least three years, and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from the previous October. Otherwise he or she would continue to be assessed on the basis of parental income.
An applicant's class is defined at his/her first point of entry to an approved higher or further education course and this will continue to apply for the duration of his/her studies.
If an individual applicant considers that s/he has been unjustly refused a student grant or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, s/he may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI.
Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down in writing by SUSI and remains of the view that the scheme has not been interpreted correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board within the required timeframe.
(The student to whom the Deputy refers was appealing on the basis of student status (independent/Dependent) and was in third year of his course. However, his class was determined at the first point of entry to his course.)