Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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1434. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding an Student Universal Support Ireland application in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 17; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34695/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter in the first instance for the awarding authority.

The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application in relation to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student would qualify for a grant.

For student grants purposes, a student may be assessed as an independent student if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved post leaving certificate course or an approved higher education course or of re-entry to an approved course 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. The awarding authorities are obliged to satisfy themselves beyond doubt that an acceptable degree of proof has been submitted by the grant applicant in establishing eligibility under all aspects of the schemes including independent residency. The onus is on the grant applicant to provide the necessary documentary evidence as requested by the relevant grant awarding authority.

If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to the appeals officer in SUSI.

Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by SUSI, and remains of the view that SUSI has not interpreted the scheme correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the Student Grant Appeals Board. The relevant appeal form is available to download from .