Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the proposals he has to reduce the distance criteria in respect of qualification for the non-adjacent maintenance grant for higher education; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the reduced distance qualification has impacted most severely on lower income families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28857/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2011 provided for a number of student grant measures, which came into effect for the 2011/12 academic year, including the change in the assessment of the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant from 24 kilometres to 45 kilometres.

The 24km distance criterion was originally set in 1968 and had not been updated in more than 40 years. Since then, significant improvements have taken place in the road and rail network and it is considered that the revised distance criteria is more consistent with the type of distances that students may legitimately be expected to commute to college.

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.