Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 490: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if applicants on a course are considered eligible for the higher education grant (details supplied). [12970/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The higher education grants scheme operates under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts 1968 to 1992.

Under the higher education grants scheme, an approved course is defined as a full-time undergraduate course of at least two years duration or a full-time postgraduate course of not less than one year duration pursued in an approved institution.

An approved institution is defined to mean a university, university college or other institution of higher education in so far as it provides a course or courses of not less than two years duration, being a course or courses which the Minister for Education and Science approves for the time being for the purposes of the Acts.

Each year, the higher education grants scheme specifies a list of approved institutions for the purposes of the scheme. The approved institutions mainly comprise of publicly funded third level institutions. In this regard, the college to which the Deputy refers is not an approved college for the purpose of the scheme.

Any extension to the scope of the grants scheme, to include private colleges such as the college referred to by the Deputy, can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector. There are no plans at present to extend the scope of the student support schemes to private colleges.