PLC Maintenance Grants

Student Grant Scheme

The student grant scheme is governed by legislation made under the Student Support Act 2011 (pdf).

Student grants are divided into maintenance grants, fee grants and the postgraduate contribution.

This document only deals with undergraduates. Postgraduates can get information about financial assistance in our document about, Postgraduate student 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.

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 (unless 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 member sates 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. However, there are no fee grants for courses elsewhere in the EU.

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

Qualifying for a student grant

To qualify for a student 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. 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.

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 member states 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 Switzerlandor
• 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 provisionsor
• Have refugee statusor
• Have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State before the Immigration Act 1999 came into effect. Foreign nationals granted leave to remain under the Irish Born Child scheme – IBC/05 are not eligible.or
• Have been granted permission to reside in the State under the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013.or

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

• 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

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 or a postgraduate fee contribution 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 member states of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Means test

The means test for a student grant in 2014-2015 is based on your family’s gross income for the previous full tax year (2013). However, if you or your family have had a change of circumstances (which is likely to be permanent) since 31 December 2013, your changed circumstances may be taken into account.

Reckonable income for a student grant is gross income from all sources. Some social welfare payments are excluded from ‘reckonable income’ for the purposes of student grants – see more details on reckonable income on studentfinance.ie and also in the Student Grant Scheme 2014.

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 23 or over on 1 January in the year of entry to the course. To be assessed as an independent mature candidate you must also live separately from your 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 only points at which you can reclassify from a dependent student to an independent student are when you:

• Progress from further education to higher education
• Have a 3 year break in your studies
• Are returning as a second chance student after a five year break in your studies.

Income limits for maintenance grant and full fee grant

The family income limits for eligibility for a maintenance grant in 2014-2015 are set out below. These income limits are applied after your means are assessed – see ‘means test’ above. The income limits also apply to the fee grant (that is, if you don’t qualify for the free fees scheme and are eligible for a fee grant).

Number of dependent children	Full maintenance	Part maintenance (75%)	Part maintenance (50%)	Part maintenance (25%)
Fewer than 4	€39,875	€40,970	€43,380	€45,790
4 to 7	€43,810	€45,025	€47,670	€50,325
8 or more	€47,575	€48,890	€51,760	€54,630

Income limits for partial fee grant

The family income limits for eligibility for a partial fee grant in 2014-2015 are set out below.

Number of dependent children	50% tuition fees and 100% student contribution	50% student contribution only
Fewer than 4	€49,840	€54,240
4 to 7	€54,765	€59,595
8 or more	€59,455	€64,700

The 50% tuition fee is not payable if your fees are covered under the Free Fees Scheme.

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 of at least one year’s duration:

• In full maintenance and partial fee grant categories by €4,830
• In part maintenance 75%, 50% and 25% categories by €4,670

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 2014-2015 and total reckonable income in the tax year January to December 2013 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 2013, have been:

• Claiming long-term social welfare payments, or
• Claiming Family Income Supplement or
• Participating in designated programmes (for example, a Community Employment Scheme).

These payments and programmes are listed in Schedule 2 of the Student Grant Scheme 2014.

For students who are assessed on their own income, on 31 December 2013 the student must have been getting one of these social welfare payments or participating in a designated programme.