Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 488: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the additional financial support which is available to parents (details supplied) in County Cork who have three children in third level education. [3798/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Financial assistance is available to students under the higher education grants scheme, which is administered by the local authorities under the aegis of my Department. The position is that, generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. An approved course for the purpose of the higher education grants scheme means a full-time undergraduate course of not less than two years duration and a full-time postgraduate course of not less than one years duration pursued in an approved institution.

I understand that two of the students in question are in receipt of a higher education grant from Cork County Council, while the third student is in receipt of a vocational education scholarship grant from County Cork VEC. Apart from the funding provided through the student support maintenance grant schemes, financial assistance is also available from the Department through the student assistance fund. The objective of the fund is 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. Further information on this fund is available from the student access officer at the relevant college.

Another initiative under the third level access fund is the millennium partnership fund for disadvantage. The objective of this fund is to support students from disadvantaged areas with regard to retention and participation in further or higher education courses. Partnership companies and community groups manage the fund locally. Area Development Management manages the fund for the Department of Education and Science. Under the fund, eligible actions may include the following but will be dependent on the individual partnership or community group: financial supports to meet student participation costs; provision of information, for example, guidance and mentoring; and study supports including tuition, study skills.