The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. 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. A student may be assessed as an independent student (i.e. assessed without reference to parental income and address) if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course, and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from the previous 1st October. Otherwise, he/she would be assessed as a dependent student, i.e. assessed with reference to parental income and address. Only in exceptional cases, where compelling evidence of irreconcilable estrangement from parents/guardians is provided, can candidates who are under 23 be assessed without reference to their parents/guardians income or address. Otherwise he or she will be assessed as a dependent student for student grant purposes i.e. assessed on the basis of the income and address of parents/legal guardians. Experienced staff deal sensitively with the issue of estrangement. If the Deputy has a specific case he wishes to highlight he can contact SUSI at oireachtas@susi.ie or my office. Staff in SUSI are responding to email queries within a matter of days.
