Beverley Flynn
Ceist:615 Ms Cooper-Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Science if the top-up grant application from a person (details supplied) in County Mayo can be re-examined in view of his difficult family circumstances. [10971/02]
Written Answers. - Higher Education Grants.
The report of the action group on access to third level education makes detailed recommendations concerning the introduction of special rates of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, usually referred to as top-up grants.
The action group considered that the target group of "those most in need" could best be defined in terms of the child dependants of people receiving long-term welfare payments, in respect of whom continued child dependant allowance is being paid, by virtue of their being in full-time education. This category involves child dependants in the age group 18 to 22.
In order to qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant a candidate must meet a number of conditions, one of which is that he or she must already qualify for one of my Department's ordinary maintenance grants. My Department funds three means-tested maintenance grant schemes for third level education students in respect of attendance on approved courses in approved third level institutions and one grant scheme in respect of post-leaving certificate courses: the higher education grants scheme; the vocational education committees' scholarship scheme; the third level maintenance grants scheme for trainees and maintenance grants scheme for students attending post-leaving certificate, PLC, courses. All four schemes have similar provisions, relating, for example, to residency and means, which govern the award of a grant.
Where a student is already in receipt of a grant under one of these schemes, he or she may apply to the relevant local authority or VEC for the special rate of grant. Decisions on applications are taken by these bodies, based on the conditions and terms issued by my Department. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department other than in exceptional cases, where, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular condition is desired.
If an individual applicant considers that he or she has been unjustly refused the special rate of maintenance grant, he or she may appeal to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by the relevant local authority or VEC, and remains of the view that the body has not interpreted the conditions correctly in his or her case, a letter outlining the position may be sent to my Department. Alternatively, the local authority or VEC may itself, in exceptional circumstances, seek clarification on issues from my Department.
My Department received an appeal in respect of the candidate referred to by the Deputy. Having reviewed the candidate's application, my Department upheld the decision of the local authority to refuse the application for the special rate of maintenance grant because the reckonable income, in the relevant tax period, exceeded the set income threshold. It is not open to me, or to my Department, to depart from the terms of the special rates of maintenance grants schemes in individual cases. The eligibility requirements for the special rates of maintenance grant are being reviewed with a view to extending eligibility, to assess the coverage and effectiveness of the implementation of the special rates in this first year of operation.
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, in approved third level institutions, 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. The fund is administered on a discretionary and confidential basis by each third level institution and provides direct financial support to disadvantaged students to assist them to remain on in college. I significantly increased the provision for this fund from €2.49 million, £1.964 million, in respect of the 2000-01 academic year to €7.49 million, £5.9 million, in respect of the 2001-02 academic year.