Vol. 500 No. 1
420 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the situation where students under the age of 23 on 1 January in their year of entry into college are assessed on their own plus their parents or guardians income regardless of their circumstances. [3610/99]
The provisions of the student support schemes require that parental income be taken into account, irrespective of the individual circumstances, in any case where a student applying for a maintenance grant is not a mature student, that is, any student who is under 23 years of age on 1 January of the year of entry to an approved course. I appreciate the difficulties that these provisions can give rise to in individual cases and I have asked my officials to examine the situation.
