Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
834. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if consideration will be given to omitting income from widow and widowers pensions from the reckonable income for SUSI grants. [42040/21]
View answerThe Student Grant Scheme, administered by SUSI, provides grant assistance to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.
Widows’/Widower’s pension is included as reckonable income for the purposes of the student grant means test. Widow's/Widower's pension is also a qualifying payment for the special rate of grant where the reckonable income is less than €24,500. Where the pension includes a CDA (child dependent allowance) the CDA element may be deducted from the payment for the purposes of qualifying for the special rate of grant and determining total reckonable income.
As the Deputy is aware, the scheme is under review and all proposals made in relation to education expenditure, including student grants for the 2022/23 academic year, will be considered in the context of Budget 2022.
