Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2024
897. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if work has been carried out to develop a more nuanced approach to determining the independence of SUSI applicants (details supplied). [24779/24]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, the objective of the statutory based student grant scheme is to provide additional assistance where parental income is below a certain threshold or, in the case of independent mature students, where the level of income of the student and his or her spouse warrants additional assistance by way of a grant.For student grants purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian or as independent mature students.
A candidate's reckonable income for the purposes of the student grant means test is gross income from all sources and the gross income of his/her parents or guardians, where applicable, with certain specified Department of Social Protection Payments being exempt. A student may be assessed as an independent mature student if they have attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course and is not ordinarily resident with their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) from the previous 1st October. The documentation required can be found here: www.susi.ie/eligibility-criteria/income/applicant-class/independent-students/.
A student under the age of 23 may be assessed without reference to parental income only in exceptional cases, for example orphans, students in foster care, cases where there is evidence of irreconcilable estrangement from parents or legal guardians etc. Applicants are requested to share documentary evidence with SUSI to confirm their situation. The type of documentary evidence required is dependent on the applicant’s individual circumstances and may vary widely from case to case. This approach is taken with a view to giving applicants the flexibility to provide documents that relate to their specific circumstances.
