Grants for students in further and higher education

Student Grant Scheme

The Student Grant Scheme 2011 (pdf) and Student Support Regulations 2011 (pdf) were made under the Student Support Act 2011 (pdf). Details of the 2012-2013 scheme will be published in May 2012.

Student grants are divided into 2 classes – maintenance grants and fee grants.

Maintenance grants

A maintenance grant is a contribution towards the student’s living costs. Students who started or are starting courses from the academic year 2010-2011 onward do not qualify for a maintenance grant if they are on a Back to Education Allowance or VTOS allowance.

Maintenance grants are available for approved courses below graduate level in Ireland and other EU states and for approved postgraduate courses in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Postgraduate students: No maintenance grants will be paid for new entrants on postgraduate courses from the 2012-13 academic year. Fee grants (described below) will continue to be paid for those postgraduate students who would previously have qualified for the special rate of grant (see 'Special rates of grants for disadvantaged students' below).

In addition, based on their means, a further 4,000 postgraduate students will get a €2,000 fee contribution grant. The income threshold for this payment (which will be lower than the standard grant threshold) has not yet been determined.

Fee grants

A fee grant can cover any of the following 3 elements:

• All or part of the student contribution
• Costs of essential field trips
• All or part of a student’s tuition fees (but not if covered by the Free Fees Scheme)

In general, if you qualify for a maintenance grant you will qualify for all elements of the fee grant. However, you will not get the tuition element of a fee grant if you already qualify for free tuition under the Free Fees Schemes.

You may qualify for a fee grant, but not a maintenance grant, if you are what is called a 'tuition student' under the Student Grant Scheme. A tuition student is someone who fulfils all the conditions for a student grant except for residence in the State, but who has been resident in an EEA state or Switzerland for 3 of the last 5 years.

The members of the EEA (the European Economic Area) are the 27 members of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Students doing Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses do not get fee grants, but if you qualify for a maintenance grant you will be exempt from the PLC participant contribution.

Fee grants are available for approved courses below graduate level in Ireland and for approved postgraduate courses in Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, there are no fee grants for courses in other EU states.

See ‘Approved courses and institutions' below for further detail.

Budget 2012: From the 2012-13 academic year, fee grants will only be paid for new postgraduate students if they would previously have qualified for the special rate of grant (see 'Special rates of grants for disadvantaged students' below). In addition, based on their means, a further 4,000 postgraduate students will get a €2,000 fee contribution grant.

How student grants are administered

The new single grant-awarding authority is Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). It will handle all new grant applications for 2012-2013 through studentfinance.ie.

Local authorities will deal with renewal grant applications in respect of:

• Universities
• Prescribed educational institutions in Ireland (such as colleges of education)
• Approved undergraduate courses in approved educational institutions in the EU
• Approved postgraduate courses in approved educational institutions in Northern Ireland

These grants were previously handled under the Higher Education Grants Scheme.

Vocational Education Committees (VECs) will deal with renewal grant applications for approved courses in the following institutions:

• Approved Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) centres
• Institutes of Technology

Student grants are reviewed each year. If you had a grant in one academic year and are continuing your studies on the course in the following year, the body that awarded the grant will be in contact with you in order to renew or re-assess your student grant for that next year.

For new applicants: your grant will be awarded when you confirm acceptance of your place (usually late August/early September). SUSI will pay it into your designated Irish bank account each month, subject to confirmation of attendance.

For continuing students: if you have a grant already and are progressing to the next year of the same course, you will still be paid by the existing awarding authority - your local authority or VEC.

Qualifying for a student grant

Maintenance grant

To qualify for a maintenance grant, you must fulfil the conditions of the scheme as regards:

• Nationality and immigration status
• Residence
• Means

You must also be attending an approved course in an approved institution – see ‘Approved courses and institutions’ below.

There are detailed conditions about the level of the course you are attending; whether you have attended a course at the same level already; and whether the course represents progression from your previous studies.

In general, you will not get a grant for repeating a year or attending a course at a level that does not represent progression from what you have done before. These conditions are specified in paragraphs 14 to 17 of the Student Grant Scheme 2011 (pdf). However, ‘second chance students’ may be eligible for a grant. A ‘second chance student’ is someone who is aged over 23, did not successfully complete an earlier course and is returning to pursue an approved course after at least 5 years.

Fee grant

If you qualify for a maintenance grant, you will qualify for all relevant elements of a fee grant.

You may qualify for a fee grant, but not a maintenance grant, if you are what is called a 'tuition student' under the Student Grant Scheme.

A tuition student is someone who fulfils all the conditions for a student grant except for residence in the State, but who has been resident in an EEA state or Switzerland for 3 of the last 5 years. The members of the EEA (the European Economic Area) are the 27 members of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Nationality and immigration status

In order to get a student grant you must:

• Be a national of an EU member state or an EEA member state or Switzerland

  or

• Be a family member of one of the above, with permission to remain in the State as a family member of such person under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2006 and 2008 and EU Treaty rights provisions

  or

• Have refugee status

  or

• Have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State (foreign nationals granted leave to remain under the Irish Born Child scheme - IBC/05 are not eligible)

  or

• Be eligible for subsidiary protection or have been granted leave to remain under the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006 (pdf)

  or

• Have permission to remain following a determination not to make a deportation order

  or

• Have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to, or civil partnership with, an Irish national living here or be the dependent child of a person with such permission

Residence

Since the academic year 2010-2011, you must have been legally resident in the State for 3 of the previous 5 years to qualify for a maintenance grant. However, if you are studying elsewhere in the EU for a recognised qualification, and you were resident in the State for 3 of the 5 years before starting that course, you satisfy this requirement. Find more details of this requirement on studentfinance.ie.

If you fulfil all the criteria for a maintenance grant except for the residence condition in the State, you may still qualify for a fee grant as a ‘tuition student’.

A tuition student is someone who fulfils all the conditions for a student grant except for residence in the State, but who has been resident in an EEA state or Switzerland for 3 of the last 5 years.The members of the EEA (the European Economic Area) are the 27 members of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Your parents or guardians, or you yourself if you are an independent mature candidate (see below) must have been ordinarily resident in the administrative area of the local authority from 1 October prior to applying for the grant.

Means test

If you were ordinarily resident with your parents from October 1 of the year before the year of entry to the course, you are considered dependent on your parents and your income (if any) is assessed together with your parents' income(s). An allowance is made for your earnings outside of term-time – up to €3,809 currently.

Independent mature candidates are candidates aged over 23 who live separately from their parents from 1 October of the year before the year of entry to the course. If you are an independent student, you are assessed on your own income (and that of your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, if applicable).

The means test for a student grant in 2011-2012 was based on your family's income for the previous full tax year (2010). However, if you or your family have had a change of circumstances (which is likely to be permanent) since 31 December 2010, your changed circumstances may be taken into account.

Some social welfare payments are excluded from 'reckonable income' for the purposes of student grants - see more details on reckonable income on studentfinance.ie. Paragraphs 18 to 24 of the Student Grant Scheme 2011 (pdf) cover reckonable income. Paragraph 21(4) lists the payments that are excluded.

Budget 2012: The value of certain capital assets will be taken into account in the means test for student grants from 2013.

Income limits for maintenance grant and full fee grant

The family income limits for eligibility for a maintenance grant in 2011-2012 are set out below. These limits also qualify you in respect of the fee grant (if you are otherwise eligible).

Income limits for partial fee grant

The family income limits for eligibility for a partial fee grant in 2011-2012 are set out below.

Other family members in college

The reckonable income limits may be increased as follows for each additional family member who is pursuing a full-time course (as specified in the Student Grant Scheme 2011 (pdf) and Student Support Regulations 2011 (pdf)) of at least one year’s duration:

• In full maintenance and partial fee grant categories by €4,980 where there are 2 such family members, €9,960 where there are 3 such family members and so on, by increments of €4,980
• In part maintenance 75%, 50% and 25% categories by €4,815 where there are 2 such family members, €9,630 where there are 3 such family members and so on, by increments of €4,815

If you are an independent applicant, the family member taken into account is your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant. If you are dependent on your parents, the family members taken into account are your parent(s) and their other dependent children.

Special rates of grants for disadvantaged students

Disadvantaged students who meet a number of conditions can qualify for a special rate of maintenance grant.

Applicants must have qualified for the standard maintenance grant for the academic year 2011-2012 and total reckonable income in the tax year January to December 2010 must not be more than €22,703, net of Qualified Child Increases and standard exclusions.

For students, including mature students, who are assessed on parent(s)/guardian's income, their parent(s)/guardian must, on 31 December 2010, have been:

• Claiming long-term social welfare payments, or
• Claiming Family Income Supplement or
• Participating in designated programmes (for example, a FÁS training programme).

These payments and programmes are listed in Schedule 2 of the Student Grant Scheme 2011 (pdf).

For students who are assessed on their own income, on 31 December 2010 the student must have been getting one of these social welfare payments or participating in a designated programme.

Budget 2012: New postgraduate students whose means would formerly have qualified them for the special rate of student grant will now only get a fee grant. They will not get a maintenance grant. Existing grant-holders will not be affected.