John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 1405: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will make a favourable decision on a person's (details supplied) higher education grant in view of their circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29795/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Higher Education Grant Schemes operate under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. Under the terms of these Acts a mature student is defined as a person of not less than 23 years of age on the 1st of January of the year of entry to their third level course. Under the terms of the Higher Education Grants Schemes, mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his or her parents from the October preceding their entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address.

My Department understands that the student in question has been resident in America from August 2004 to April 2006. Accordingly, she is ineligible under the terms of the Higher Education Grant Scheme to be assessed as an independent mature candidate or a dependent mature candidate as she fails to meet the residency requirement.

Clause 4.1.1 of the Higher Education Grant Scheme states that the candidate's parents or guardians, or in the case of an independent mature candidate, the candidate herself/himself, shall be ordinarily resident in the administrative area of the Local Authority from 1 October 2005.