Bord Snip Recommendations RE: BTEA and Maintenance Grant

pandamoanium

Just wondering what you all make of the recently published Bord Snip report which recommends that mature students should no longer receive both a maintenance grant AND the BTEA and in future they should only receive one OR the other?

Also, does anyone know what the situation is this year regarding maintenance grant levels - are they being reduced this year or staying the same?

Sad Professor

O'Keefe is taking some of the recommendations on board as well:

Minister O'Keeffe gave notice that, with effect from the start of the 2010/11 academic year, further changes will be introduced. These include:

- Some social welfare allowances, including the Back to Education Allowance which had been excluded in the means-testing process, will be included as reckonable income in assessing eligibility for student grants;
- The income tax adjustment for farm stock relief will be disregarded in calculating reckonable income for means-testing purposes;
- The residency requirement in the State for grant eligibility will be increased from one year to three out of the past five years for the student - a move that's in line with provisions already outlined in the Student Support Bill;
- The duration of the break in studies required for re-entry as an independently assessed mature student will be increased from one year to three years.

Minister O'Keeffe said: 'I'm announcing these changes for the 2010/11 academic year so that students and their families are notified well in advance and have reasonable time to prepare.

http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?maincat=&pcategory=10861&ecategory=10876&sectionpage=12251&language=EN&link=link001&page=1&doc=45913

Obviously we won't know the details of these changes until next year but tbh I think including the BTEA in the reckonable income for the grant is probably fair.

Grant rates are staying the same. But the reckonable income bands have been increased slightly. More info in the link above.

Joe1919

The Bord Snip report states the following which appears different.

'In addition, the Group considers that the current situation whereby unemployed students who return to full-time education under the Department of Social & Family Affairs funded Back to EducationAllowance (BTEA) are also eligible to apply for a D/E&S student maintenance grant under this scheme should be changed. The Group considers that students should be entitled to apply for either a BTEA allowance or a student maintenance grant, but not both. It is therefore recommended that BTEA recipients should not be eligible for further support under the D/E&S Student Maintenance Grant Scheme.' (Page 69 & 70 Appendix2 Bord Snip report).

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0716/Volume%202%20FINAL.pdf

Perhaps thing are to get even more difficult in 2010 or 2011 but not this year?

Sad Professor

Including the BTEA in the reckonable income will have much the same effect in a lot of cases. I doubt the government will just outright stop one from getting both as the report suggests.

Those were only recommendations anyway - made by a bunch of elitist economists who don't exactly have much insight into the political and social ramifications of their suggested cost-cutting measures.

tonywanda

I'm probably getting my wires crossed here but, would anyone think that they might means assess the BTEA, much like they would for they maintenance grant

e.g. If your classified as a Mature dependent whose parents are above the the reckonable income level to qualify for a grant. Would that mean that you could potentially be means assessed for a BTEA regardless of your living arrangement.

Or is it just for the purpose of assessing the Grant itself, and nothing else to do with the BTEA?

Verbal_Kint

have the grant amounts been released for the coming year?

What is the amount for basic grant, non adjacent grant and top up grant?