Residency rule for third-level grants

STUDENTS will have to meet residency requirements to qualify for third-level grants under legislation being published by Education Minister Mary Hanafin today.

The Student Support Bill will hand responsibility for all four college grant schemes to city and county vocational education committees and allow the minister to set deadlines for applications, decisions and payments. But changes are also being made to the qualifying criteria to rule out the possibility of so-called grant tourism, under which people might come to study here because of the relatively generous grants system.

All applicants will have to have lived in Ireland for three of the last five years to qualify for a grant, whereas previously it was a requirement a student’s parent had to have lived here for the previous year.