Dropping Out and Grants

genie

I'm dropping out of university (long story) at the end of February/beginning of March and am wondering what the position is regarding the 3rd Level Grant I'm getting. Will I have to pay some of it back?

Lump

I owuld imagine you'll have to pay all of it back, unless you are moving to another course.

I'm not 100% sure. I hope you have to pay it back TBH.


John

sunbeam

I'm only familiar with higher education grants administered by the county councils but have never heard of anyone having to pay one back.

However they will not normally pay for two years at the same level (unless there are exceptional cirumstances involved such as serious illness), so if you start a new course next year you may have to pay fees for at least a year. As far as I know this may be relaxed if you return to college five years after dropping out.

sceptre

Originally posted by sunbeam
As far as I know this may be relaxed if you return to college five years after dropping out.

This is currently the case. Obviously it may not be the case in five years' time.

ecksor

Zing!

where would I look for information about that? I dropped out 5 years ago and plan to go back ...

sunbeam

Your local county council/corporation website should have info.
Here is a link to relevant info from Mayo County Council- regulations should be similar for the others. See the first PDF file.

I see that these days you can possibly get a grant for more than one postgrad course provided that you are moving from pg dip to masters to PhD (with a maximum of four years funding).

/me kicks self for doing a research masters first.

ecksor

Thank you.

sceptre

Originally posted by ecksor
Zing!

where would I look for information about that? I dropped out 5 years ago and plan to go back ...

Pretty straightforward ecksor. Basically they just restart the clock.

If you dropped out five years before your new degree starts you're eligible for "free" fees in the same way as anyone who's doing their first degree. And for the grant under the same arrangements as anyone doing their first degree, though obviously under the independent mature student category. So if you were planning on doing a full time course starting this September your grant eligibility would be based on the 2003 tax year. That's basically it - if the gap is there the conditions are the same as for any first time mature student. You apply in the normal fashion - apart from entering the details of your previous college years there aren't even any extra boxes to tick.

ecksor

Hm, I hadn't even considered the fees thing (just assumed I'd have to pay them upon repeat).