Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the situation in which many students throughout the country have applied for third level maintenance grants to pursue courses in various third level institutions and private colleges and to find out after enrolling on these courses that the particular courses may not be covered by the maintenance grants scheme; if he will publish one overall list whereby students can verify in advance whether their courses are eligible for a maintenance grant scheme rather than finding out after they have commenced the course; if he will take a proactive approach to help students who end up in severe financial difficulty because of this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9374/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The student grant schemes, which specify the criteria for approved courses as well as approved institutions, are widely available to the general public on both my Department's website and on the studentfinance.ie website.

The studentfinance website, which is funded by my Department, provides a comprehensive source of information on financial support for further and higher education and it has a specific section which allows students to check as to whether or not their chosen course is approved for a grant.

Students also have recourse to their local grant awarding body - VEC or local authority - to verify the position. Information on approved institutions and courses will continue to be made available through these channels and students are strongly advised to make use of them if they have any doubts in this area. Applying for a grant as early as possible will also help to reduce the risk of accepting an unapproved course as the grant assessment process includes a check on institution and course eligibility.

To assist students in exceptional financial need, the Student Assistance Fund at some €5m will continue to be made available through the access offices of third-level institutions. The studentfinance.ie website also has information on this fund. The access offices themselves will also continue to provide support and advice to students to enable them to continue with their studies.

In addition, Section 21 of the Finance Act 2000 provides for the introduction of tax relief for fees paid in publicly funded colleges here and in other EU Member States as well as in private colleges in this state. This relief, which applies at the standard rate of tax, is available to full time and part time students and includes distance education courses offered by publicly funded colleges in other EU Member States. Further details on claiming this relief are available from local tax offices or on the Revenue Commissioner's website at www.revenue.ie.