The 1992 Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Act, 1992 defined mature students as: persons of not less than 23 years of age, or such other age as may stand specified for the time being in regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, who have secured places in approved institutions and have reached that age on the 1st day of January, or such other date as may be prescribed from time to time by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, in the year of entry to such institutions.
I understand that it was the general practice of the third level institutions to regard mature students as students who were at least 23 years old.
The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs administers the third level allowance scheme. To be eligible a student pursuing an undergraduate course must be at least 21 years of age while a student pursuing a postgraduate course must be at least 24 years. The scheme is aimed at encouraging people on unemployment assistance to return to college and is not confined to mature students.
The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs uses the Department of Education and Science's definition of mature students for unemployment assistance purposes, as only students who were at least 23 years of age on 1 January of the year of entry to a third level course may sign on for unemployment assistance during the summer.
It is not possible to give the cost involved in reducing the age for qualifying as a mature student from 23 to 21 as the statistical information required to give such a costing is not readily available.
