The Minister for Education should not include interest on SSIA savings accounts when assessing students for third-level grants, according to the Green Party.
The party's education spokesman, Paul Gogarty TD, said the inclusion of future SSIA interest to calculate education grant eligibility is a "dubious practice" which penalises lower-income families and should be stopped.
When students apply for third-level maintenance grants to help with college expenses, their family incomes are means-tested for eligibility.
Along with household wages, any other source of income is included in the assessment, and applicants are asked to declare standard savings. They are also asked to include details of SSIA savings for the previous tax year.
The as-yet-unpaid interest for that year's savings is then calculated as income for the purposes of assessing eligibility for grants. But SSIA interest cannot be drawn down until the savings accounts mature in 2006 or 2007.
According to Mr Gogarty: "It [the interest] is not available as an income to cover registration fees or to pay for food and accommodation, yet some students on low incomes are being told that provisional interest for 2004 will be calculated as part of their income. This will push some students over the threshold for a grant which, in my view, is totally wrong."
He said the practice was brought to his attention by a mature VEC student who did not qualify for a top-up maintenance grant because her income was €265 over the threshold due to SSIA interest.
