Gay Mitchell
Ceist:166 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science the grant aid and other financial assistance which is available to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12. [13357/01]
Written Answers - Higher Education Grants.
The higher education grants scheme, administered, under the aegis of my Department, by the local authorities, offers financial assistance to eligible students attending approved third level courses. Students entering approved courses for the first time are, generally speaking, eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, and nationality. An approved course for the purpose of the schemes is a full-time undergraduate course of not less than two years duration and a full time postgraduate course of not less than one year duration pursued in an approved institution.
The assessment of means under the grants scheme is based on gross income from all sources, with specified social welfare and health board payments being excluded from the calculation. Other than in the case of an independent mature student, the reckonable income, for the purpose of the means testing, is that of the candidate and of the candidate's parents or guardians. In cases where the parents are divorced or separated, only the reckonable income of the parent, with whom the candidate resides, is taken into account.
My Department understands that the candidate, to whom the Deputy refers, has not applied for financial assistance under the higher education grant scheme. He should, therefore, contact the relevant local authority with a view to submitting an application for funding, subject to the terms and conditions of the scheme.
I am arranging for my Department to forward a copy of the higher education grants scheme, 2000, to the Deputy.
Apart from the maintenance grants schemes and the free fees initiative, under which my Department meets the cost of tuition fees for eligible undergraduate students in approved institutions, financial support is also available to students through the student assistance-access fund. The objectives of the fund, which is ESF-aided, are to assist students, in a sensitive and compassionate manner, who might otherwise, due to their financial circumstances, be unable to continue their third level studies. Students must be attending an undergraduate course, or a postgraduate course of not less than one-year duration, in order to be deemed eligible for assistance.
The fund is administered on a discretionary and confidential basis by the third level institutions and provides direct financial support to disadvantaged students to assist them to remain on in college.