Ms Annie Hoey:

We mentioned mature students and their personal income, an issue we have found to be problematic. Last week I attended the forum on lone parents organised by Senator Katherine Zappone, at which I heard alarming stories which I had not heard before. I heard about a woman who had gone through a marital breakdown. She lived at home for about one month to try to sort herself out. As a result of living at home she lost rent supplement and was deemed to be dependent on her father, even though she was in her thirties. This had left her incredibly distressed. She was pregnant at the time and also had a four year old child. The upheaval had had an impact on her ability to cope. She ended up having to take a year out to reassess where she was going and try to get back on track. Someone should never have to take a year out to sign on to become eligible to continue his or her education.

There is a similar problem in providing proof of independence. It is difficult to move straightaway from being an undergraduate to a postgraduate student. No student should have to sign on for one year to prove he or she is independent from his or her parents. It does not make sense that people must do this to prove they are independent.

The issue of added years has caused confusion. My sister had such a problem. She was told there was no support available and was unable to find any information online. If grant authorities cannot find the information, students definitely will not be able to find it, which is worrying.

On the issue of mitigating circumstances, people do not necessarily repeat just because they are lazy or having a great time. There are serious reasons such as marital breakdown, the loss of a parent, illness, etc. Such circumstances have a massive impact on the ability of students to return to education. I started college in 2006 and every year since I have seen students drop out for personal reasons. They were of the view that they would not receive the support needed to continue studying.

We get telephone calls all the time from students on courses at level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications who wish to avail of the option of doing an additional year to obtain a level 8 qualification. It seems, however, that as far as SUSI is concerned, that add-on year amounts to a whole new course and participants are no longer eligible for existing supports. Everything essentially goes flying out the window. We would like to see clarity in respect of all courses that have the option of an add-on year, so that people are not left in a situation where their supports are withdrawn. Students often commence a course in an institute of technology because of the points level, because it is local to them and so on, with the intention of proceeding to level 8 by way of the conversion year. After completing three years, however, they are told they no longer qualify for support. That is not acceptable. We are talking about a continuation of the same course, albeit perhaps with a slightly different name. We would like to see an awareness on the part of SUSI that this option is available and an accommodation of it, rather than having this back and forth we are seeing at the moment.