Third-level student fees

Information

Most undergraduate students attending publicly funded third-level courses do not have to pay fees.

Rules

If you are an undergraduate student at a publicly funded third-level educational institution, you do not, in general, have to pay fees.

Free fees

In order to qualify for free fees:

• You must be an EU national or have official refugee status and
• You must have been living in the EU (this includes any of the accession states) for at least 3 of the 5 years before starting your course and
• You must be undertaking a full-time undergraduate course of at least 2 years duration and
• You must not have a previous qualification to the same level (Students who hold a National Certificate or Diploma and are progressing to degree courses may be eligible) and
• You must not be repeating the year because of failing your exams or changing course. (This exclusion may be waived if you have to repeat a year due to certified serious illness.)

The undergraduate courses for which the free fees arrangements apply are courses in:

• Universities
• Institutes of technology
• Colleges of education
• National College of Ireland
• A number of religious education institutions

Free fees do not apply to courses in private colleges, whether they have Higher Education and Training Awards Council approval or not.

The fact that a course is on the CAO list is not, in itself, enough to make it a free fees course.

Students may also be eligible for means-tested maintenance grants.

EU fees

If you are not an Irish national and you do not qualify for free fees the third-level institution may charge you EU fees if you are either:

• An EU citizen or have official refugee status and you have received all your post-primary education in the EU but have not been resident in an EU state for 3 of the 5 years before beginning third-level education you will qualify for EU fees or
• you are not an EU citizen but you have been residing in an EU country for 3 of the last 5 years before entering third-level education you may be eligible for EU fees.

If you are not an EU citizen and you do not qualify for EU fees you may be charged non-EU fees. Each third-level educational institution sets its own fee rates. You should contact the ones you are interested in to find out more about their fees - see 'Where to apply' below.

Postgraduate fees

Fees are payable for most postgraduate courses. However, there are some postgraduate courses - mainly diplomas - which are supported by the European Social Fund and so either no fees or reduced fees are payable. A list of such courses is available from the Department of Education and Science.

Student services charge

There is an annual student services charge that all students (except those who qualify for maintenance grants) have to pay. It is also known as a registration fee and it covers student services and examinations. The amount of the charge varies from one institution to another.  It was announced in Budget 2009 that there would be an increase in the student services charge from €900 up to €1500 for the year 2009/2010.

Where to apply