Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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571. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide clear guidelines to grant authorities dealing with higher education grants, which would permit an applicant for a grant adding evidence of estrangement or independence to benefit from a local community officer or social welfare officer making declarations for the purpose of the Student Universal Support Ireland process, which could satisfy the criteria of independence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26364/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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For student grants purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students.

A student may be assessed as an independent mature student if he or 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 October. Otherwise he or she would continue to be assessed on the basis of parental income.

When considering whether a student meets the conditions to be assessed independently of his or her parents, grant awarding authorities are obliged to satisfy themselves beyond doubt that an acceptable degree of proof of independent living in the relevant period has been submitted by the grant applicant. Only in exceptional cases, where compelling evidence of estrangement from parents/guardians is provided, can candidates who are under 23 be assessed without reference to their parents/guardians income or address. The assessment of a case of estrangement is carefully considered to ensure there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the exceptional circumstances pertaining in such cases genuinely exists. The type of evidence required is dependent on the applicant's individual circumstances.

It is difficult to legislate for all possible scenarios that can lead to genuine estrangement cases. Setting out guidelines as to how students can demonstrate estrangement will by their very nature, restrict the assessment of estrangement cases to those that fall within these guidelines. Such restrictions may not be in the best interest of students genuinely in this situation.

I have no plans to change the current arrangements.