The higher education grant schemes operate under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts 1968 to 1992. These Acts define a mature student to mean a person "of not less than 23 years of age, or such 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". 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.
When assessing the means of students, other than independent mature students, the Acts specify that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not an independent mature student.
With regard to the student referred to by the Deputy, Meath County Council confirmed that the student was assessed as a dependent mature student on the year of entry of his approved course and will, therefore, continue to be assessed as such for the duration of the course. To assess the eligibility of the candidate for a maintenance grant, the local authority must examine the income details of both the candidate and of the parents in this case.