Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1977.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware of the flaw in the SUSI requirements which potentially excludes those who rent a room under the rent-a-room scheme of being able to prove their ‘independent residence’; and if he intends to address this by changing the documents accepted as proof of independent residence.[34739/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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For student grant 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 student (i.e. assessed without reference to parental income and address) if they have attained the age of 23 on 1 January of the year of first entry to an approved course, and is not ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous 1 October. Otherwise, they would be assessed as a dependent student, i.e. assessed with reference to parental income and address.

The type of issue referred to by the Deputy usually arises where an applicant wishes to apply as an independent Student and is requested to provide evidence of same.

The documentation accepted as evidence of living independently is any of the following:

• A letter confirming that the address is registered with Residential Tenancies Board (RTB);
• A Local Authority lease agreement or a letter confirming the applicant's rental under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) or any Government housing scheme/arrangement. Private housing lease agreements will not be accepted;
• A letter on headed paper from a Rental Agency confirming the applicant's tenancy;
• A letter confirming the receipt and period of Rent Allowance, Mortgage Interest Supplement or Housing Assistance Payment (HAP);
• A utility bill in the applicant's own name, for example; landline telephone, fixed broadband, gas, electricity, cable/satellite television bill, home heating bills, waste bills, mortgage statements and/or property tax letters. SUSI does not accept mobile telephone bills. If the utility bills in the household are in the applicant's spouse’s name, a marriage certificate should be provided with the utility bill. If an applicant is co-habiting, SUSI will accept utility bills in the applicant's partner’s name covering the relevant period together with correspondence e.g. bank statement/Statement of Liability issued to the applicant at the same address and covering the relevant period; and/or
• Official documentation posted to the applicant at the address and relating to the applicant's residence there. For example, a letter from the Department of Social Protection confirming Rent Allowance at the address. It should be noted that SUSI do not accept bank statements alone for this purpose.

Further information regarding class of applicant (independent or dependent) and the types of documentation accepted as evidence of living independently from parents is available from SUSI’s website:susi.ie/eligibility/applicant-class/

If an individual applicant considers that they have been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, they 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 their case, an appeal may be submitted to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board within the required timeframe. Such appeals can be made by the appellant on line viawww.studentgrantappeals.ie.