Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to an anomaly in the higher education grant system in which a student's whole family income is assessed for awarding of a higher education grant at the full non-adjacent rate, but when the student's family passes the reckonable income limit for receipt of the special rate of grant but the family income is received by a non-biological parent of the student, and the biological parent is unable to receive a social welfare payment in their own right, the student in financial need is unable to receive the special rate grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14830/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for a student's grant awarding body. The Deputy will appreciate that, in the absence of the all of the relevant details contained in an application form, it is not possible for me to say what rate of grant a student qualifies for or, indeed, if he/she qualifies for a grant at all.

However, to qualify for the special rate of grant for the 2010/11 academic year, an applicant must meet the following conditions: 1. Qualify for the ordinary rate of grant; 2. Total reckonable income must not exceed €22,703; and 3. On the 31st December 2009, the reckonable income must include an eligible long-term payment prescribed under the scheme.

In the case of a dependent candidate, the reckonable income taken into account is that of the candidate and of the candidate's parents or legal guardian. The income of a non-biological parent is not taken onto account unless they are a student's legal guardian.

My advice in this case is that if the student feels that the terms and conditions of the grant scheme have not been correctly applied, he or she may appeal this to his or her grant awarding authority. If he or she is unhappy with the outcome of the appeal, then that decision may then be appealed to my Department. All appeal documentation is available from the student's grant awarding authority.