Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2024
1300. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will review the guidelines around SUSI grants to automatically ensure that all mature students are assessed as independent even if they are living with a parent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43924/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware, the objective of the statutory based student grant scheme is to provide additional assistance where household income is below a certain threshold.
For student grants purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents/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, including the gross income of their parents/guardians (in the case of dependent students) or of their spouse/partner (in the case of independent students) where applicable, with certain specified Department of Social Protection Payments being exempt. Grant assistance may not be awarded in any case where the reckonable income exceeds the prescribed income limits for the award of a grant.
A student may be assessed as an independent mature student if he or she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course or of re-entry following a break in studies of at least three years and is not ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous 1st October. Otherwise, they would continue to be assessed on the basis of parental income.
The Deputy will appreciate that the funding allocation for the Student Grant Scheme is determined in the context of the overall estimates and budgetary process undertaken by all Government Departments. All proposals made in relation to SUSI grant expenditure can only be considered in the context of the budgetary allocation, having regard to overall resource constraints and other competing demands in the further and higher education sector.
