Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20745/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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SUSI have introduced a number of measures in 2016 that are intended to make the Student Grant Scheme more efficient for students for the 2016/17 academic year.

One of these measures is the introduction of Eircode as part of the online application form. The use of eircode will improve processing times for students.

However, the actual calculation of distance from a student's home to college will not be changing from previous years, and SUSI continue to use google maps to calculate distance.

There are no plans at this time to adjust the qualifying distance criterion for entitlement to the higher non-adjacent rate of grant.

If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down in writing by SUSI and remains of the view that the scheme has not been interpreted correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board.