Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a maintenance grant in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 4. [23699/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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To satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course.

The objective of this policy is to help as many students as possible to obtain one qualification at each level of study. Given the level of demand on the student grant budget from first time students and students that are progressing with their studies to a higher level, there are no plans at present to change the arrangements in place.

In the scenario presented by the Deputy, a student who already holds a Level 8 undergraduate qualification and intends to pursue a second undergraduate degree at the same level is not considered to be in progression and cannot be considered for funding, regardless of whether grant aid was made available to pursue the previous qualification.

However, tax relief at the standard rate of tax may be claimed in respect of tuition fees paid for approved courses at approved colleges of higher education including approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU Member States and in non-EU countries. Further information on this tax relief is available from the Revenue Commissioners.

In relation to the issue of independent living, the position is that a student may be assessed as an independent mature student if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course or of re-entry following a break in studies of at least three years and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from the previous 1 October. Otherwise he/she would continue to be assessed on the basis of his/her parents' income.