Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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494. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a person (details supplied) in County Kerry will qualify for free fees and a maintenance grant; if not, if there are other financial supports available to the person; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48916/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage the assistance of their public representatives in making enquiries about their grant applications.

This service compliments the established channels provided by SUSI which include online application tracking, a dedicated website, a telephone helpdesk, email and social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Enquiries may be emailed direct to SUSI at oireachtas@susi.ie. SUSI are responding to email queries within a matter of days

The position with regard to free fees funding is that students who already hold an undergraduate qualification are not eligible for assistance. Where a student does not meet the eligibility criteria of the free fees schemes it is the higher education institution, as an autonomous body, that determines in accordance with its own criteria the fee payable by students.

In addition to the Student Grant Scheme, students in third-level institutions experiencing exceptional financial need can apply for support under the Student Assistance Fund. This Fund assists students, in a sensitive and compassionate manner, who might otherwise be unable to continue their third level studies due to their financial circumstances

Information on the fund is available through the Access Office in the third level institution attended. The fund is administered on a confidential, discretionary basis.

A further support available is that of tax relief at the standard rate on tuition fees paid for approved courses at approved colleges of higher education. Further information on this tax relief is available from the Revenue Commissioners on www.revenue.ie.