Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Higher Education Grants.

Michael Noonan

Ceist:

540 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Education and Science if a person (details supplied) in County Limerick has an entitlement to another grant other than the one this person is in receipt of at present; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15802/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey):

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.

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

541 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the age criteria by which higher education institutions allocate mature student places is different from the age criteria used by his Department for higher education grant allocations to mature students, and to the difficulty this causes for many students returning to education; and if he will undertake a review of this matter. [15803/02]

Paul McGrath

Ceist:

542 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the back to education programme as administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, has an age limit of over 21 years, whereas the mature student grant system as regulated by his Department has an age limit of over 23 years; if he will standardise these age qualifying criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15804/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 541 and 542 together.

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: (a) the higher education grants scheme; (b) the vocational education committees' scholarship scheme; and (c) the third level maintenance grants scheme for trainees.

My Department's higher education grant schemes operate under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. Under these Acts a mature student is defined as a person of not less than 23 years of age on 1 January in the year of entry to an approved third level institution. The Acts further provide,inter alia, for the making of grants to mature students whose means and those of their parents, where the mature students are dependent on their parents do not exceed prescribed limits.

Under the terms of the higher education grants schemes, mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his or her parents from the October preceding their entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address.

Similar provisions apply in relation to the vocational education committees' scholarship scheme and the third level maintenance grants scheme for trainees.

While the definition of mature student is not common across all institutions, the use of the age threshold of 23 years is well established in the third-level system. The back to education allowance scheme, operated by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, is a targeted scheme which aims to provide educational opportunities for unemployed people, lone parents and persons in receipt of disability allowance and blind person's pension.

A reduction in the age threshold defining mature student status under my Department's maintenance grants schemes would have to be considered in the light of available financial resources and other competing demands in the education sector. There are no plans at present to change the eligibility criteria in this regard.