HEG Grant and Change of circumstances query

Justlikemike

Hi,

Just a little clarification needed if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

I will be going to Uni for the 2010/2011 academic year (1st yr undergrad) and so will my partner. I have qualified for the BTEA and hopefully will have my Student services charges sorted from the VEC by the time registration comes around. However, I know to be assessed for a Grant based on BTEA makes me ineligible for one. What I would like to know is whether my partner would be eligible for a HEG (possibly the Top-up Grant) as she has not qualified for the BTEA in her own right even though she is a qualified dependent adult on my claim currently, the reason being is that she has only been on my claim ( which is Jobseekers Allowance presently) for about 7 weeks now. I have only moved in with her (June 2010). She was on One-parent Family since September 2009 after losing her job but went onto my claim as a QDA when we decided to live together only this year.

Seeing that the VECs assess one's reckonable income based on the last year's gross, since we were not living together then, will her income / or mine, be assessed separately or jointly? Also can she possibly get the Top-up rate seeing her salary for last year was cut due to unemployment as of 31st December 2009 re: Change of circumstances?

Any general advice or help would be appreciated. Looked on all usual websites but got no precedent for this type of FAQ. Btw we have a dependent child as well.

Cheers

Justlikemike

bump

anyone?

snubbleste

That situation looks complex to me.
My advice would be to make an appointment with a btea/job facilitator in the local SWO outlining the situation and impress upon them to reassess the situation re her eligibilty for Btea

I have no advice re the maintenance grant.

Jo Satan

I am in a similar situation, I rang my council for clarification.

If you receive BTEA and your partner is a qualified adult, you both should apply to the council for a grant. You will get your registration fees and student service fee paid for. Your partner will get her fees paid and a maintenance grant of €3,250.

Your partner should have qualified for BTEA as she is out of work for over 9 months. How long have you been out of work? If you qualified for BTEA based on redundancy but have been out of work for less than 9 months, they will not give her BTEA because her claim is based on your period of unemployment. My wife got caught out on that last year despite being out of work for 3 years. Great system eh?

If she did get BTEA in her own right, she would then receive the standard welfare rate and the increase for qualified children. This works out to be an extra €2174.70 over the length of the college year (33 weeks approx). This will disqualify her from the maintenance grant, so it's only worth going for if there is a hitch with the grant application.

This is considerably less than what you would have been entitled to last year ie both receive BTEA and both receive a maintenance grant of €3,250 plus a top up of €3,105, bringing the total grant amount to €6,355.

I guess a lot of people will say that that level of financial assistance is too much, perhaps it is if you are young, free and single, but to anyone who has significant responsibilities such as a spouse, children etc, this will put huge strain on their finances and affect their ability to attend or complete higher education.

This is such a cynical move from a government which constantly bleats on about retraining the unemployed and the knowledge economy.

It is understood from the Department of Social and Family Affairs that some 6,559 of their clients were in receipt of the BTEA Third Level Option in 2008/09 and 10,351 in 2009/10. However, not all BTEA recipients qualify for support under the student grant schemes. The government estimates they will save 40 million a year when this policy works its way through the system and this years 2nd years leave college. Relatively speaking that is a small saving that will hit those who can least afford it.

I think that all those affected, 10,000 plus families etc should emulate the OAPs and start hassling their TD and marching on the streets.

Justlikemike

Thx Jo and all the replies thus so far..yea have done as you suggested so now tis a waiting game for us all. Will keep you posted as soon as I hear back..The missus has been just about sittin out front every morn waitin fer the mailman (good thing I know its only for the post :cool: )