asked the Minister for Education if she will approve the payment of a higher education grant or a VEC grant for the 1985-86 school year to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry to enable her to pursue her studies in level 2, ACCA accountancy in the Cork Regional Technical College; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Grant Payment.
157.
The higher education grants scheme provides that the holder of a grant under the scheme who completes a course at national diploma level may, subject to prescribed conditions, have his/her grant extended in respect of subsequent attendance at a degree course. The student referred to in the Deputy's question was paid higher education grant for the three years, 1982 to 1985, in respect of attendance at a national diploma course in business studies in the Regional Technical College, Cork. The provisions of the grants scheme stipulate that a grant may be renewed, under certain conditions, for progression to a degree course. However, the student in question is not pursuing a degree course in the academic year 1985-86 and she is not therefore eligible, under the terms of the scheme, to have a higher education grant available to her in that academic year.
The student placed herself outside the scheme of scholarships to regional technical colleges and colleges of technology, operated by the vocational education committees, when she accepted a grant under the higher education grants scheme in 1982. She cannot, therefore, be awarded a VEC scholarship in the academic year 1985-86.