Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 1233: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in relation to a person (details supplied) in County Wexford, account will be taken of the fact that the person is a single parent who, prior to reaching age 23, had established a separate household from their parents and had lived independently for a number of years; if, in these circumstances, mature student status will be granted for the second and subsequent years of their third level course; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28398/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of the Department's maintenance grants schemes, and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Act 1992, a mature student is defined as a candidate who is at least 23 years of age on the 1st January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course.

Under the terms of my Department's Third Level Student Maintenance Grant Schemes the position is that, generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the prescribed conditions with regard to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. A mature student is defined for the purposes of the schemes as a candidate who is at least 23 years of age on the 1st January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course.

Mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents or guardians. An independent mature student is defined as meaning a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his/her parents or guardians from the October preceding their entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to either their parents' or guardians' income or address.

When assessing the means of students other than independent mature students, the means test provision of the scheme specifies that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not an independent mature student.

From information provided by the Deputy to my Department, it would appear that the candidate was under 23 when she commenced her course. The Deputy will appreciate that the terms of the schemes are of general application and it is not open to me to make exceptions in individual cases.

It is not proposed, at present, to change the current terms and conditions in relation to the definition of mature students.