Submit an article, image, video or audio Comment on this article

Grants

The grant options available to students.

Article by : SpunOut.ie

Ireland Grants

Student maintenance grant:

The first funding option to check out is a grant. You apply to your local VEC or County Council and if you're eligible they send the grant cheque to your university for collection. Your parent's income dictates whether you get a grant or not.

  • You have to fill in a means test form to apply for a grant. This checks your income or the income of your parents in order to decide if you get a grant and if so, how much money you get.  
  • If you work (legally and paying tax) during the summer or while studying, this income will also be counted when you apply for a grant. 
  • You are eligible if you're applying for a full time course, are 17 or over and are a resident of Ireland.  If you have EU nationality or official refugee status, and have been living in the EU for at least three years out of the past five, then you may also apply.
  • You can apply for a grant if you're studying in another EU country. 
  • You need to apply for the grant BEFORE 31 August.
  • Bear in mind that there can be significant delays in processing grants. Therefore you might have to budget carefully before your grant money comes in. Even a full grant will not see you through college, as the grant only provides financial assistance. Further information can be found at www.studentfinance.ie. 
  • The student grant will be cut by 3% from January 2012 onwards.
  • From January 2012 onwards, the value of capital assets will be taken into account. This means that if you own land, property or buildings, the value of this will be taken into account when you apply for a grant.
  • From January 2012 onwards, there will be large changes to the postgraduate grant scheme. If you are qualified as a 'special rate' student (which means both parents are on jobseekers allowance or other social welfare payments) the government will pay your entire tuition fee, however they will no longer pay any grant money. A further 4000 students whose parents are also on low incomes will receive a €2000 tuition contribution, but their full tuition fees will not be paid. They will also not be entitled to any maintenance grant.
  • Five of the current scholarship schemes will be replaced by one bursary scheme.
  • Overall, these changes mean that most post graduate students will not receive much tuition fee help and there will be no grants for post graduate students at all.

Vocational Education Committees' Scholarship:

  • The scholarship is means tested and follows a lot of the same conditions as the grant. 
  • If you're in an approved undergraduate or post-graduate course from these institutions, you might be eligible. 
  • If you've completed a course at National Certificate or Diploma level and are going on to a university course you might be eligible. 
  • BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) courses in some colleges in Ireland and Northern Ireland are covered by the scholarship. 
  • You need to apply for the scholarship BEFORE 31 August.
  • Further information can be found at www.ivea.ie/

Also:

  • Depending on the type of course you're going to do, you might be eligible for a maintenance grant for trainees or a grant for students attending post Leaving Cert courses. 
  • These are also means tested grants and follow a lot of the same conditions as the higher education grant. 
  • You are not eligible for these grants if you already have a degree, are studying for a degree at the moment or have completed more than the first year of a degree.
  • Further information can be found at www.citizensinformation.ie and StudentFinance.ie.

Northern Ireland grants

  • Maintenance grants are means tested (they depend on your parent’s income) and you need to be a resident in the UK for at least three years to apply for a grant.
  • You can also apply for supplementary grants which include dependants’ allowance, single parent student’s allowance, disabled student’s allowance, travel grants, two homes grants and grants for students who’ve been in custody or care. 
  • If you live in Ireland but study in Northern Ireland or Britain, then you can apply for a grant at home.

Avoid delays in getting your grant or scholarship:

  • Make sure you fill in the grant application form correctly and without leaving empty spaces. If you have any questions, call the local authority office in charge of grant applications in your area.
  • Delays can be caused by the grant authority contacting you for more details of documents that you forgot to include.
  • Don’t be late sending in your grant application. This will also cause delays. Apply for the grant when you’re waiting for a CAO or UCAS offer. 
  • You are going to have to show documents about your parents income so leave plenty of time for getting these.
     

Stuff to remember:

  • If your grant is delayed, you might be able to get a grant advance from your bank. This is an interest free loan for up to nine months, so long as you can prove that you’ll eventually get a grant.
  • The grant may cover your college registration fee. If the grant is late, there’s a risk that your college or uni will ask for a late payments fee. Check this at the College Fees office where you pick up your grant cheque.
  • The grant isn’t usually paid on repeat years unless you can prove that illness caused you to repeat.
  • The grant isn’t enough money to live on. You’re going to have to use savings from a summer job, a part-time job, support from parents or bank loans to get through college with more than beans to eat!
blog comments powered by Disqus
  • Audio version

    • If this is a new article you may need to wait a few minutes for the audio to be created.

  • Text and Printer Version
  • Email this to a friend
  • Tell us what you think!
Picture for Grants