Maintenance Grant Scheme 2006/7

Greetings,

This is hopefully an informative post aimed at giving students or would-be students some information about the maintenance grant scheme for 2006/7. I've set up a website which hopes to give some basic information to anyone looking to obtain the grant for the first time and DeVore and the other Admins have granted some space on Boards.ie for a forum. My website is here and the forum is here.


Deadlines:

The first thing to keep in mind in this is that August 31st is the deadline by which you need to apply for your grant - however, some City / County Councils / Vocational Education Committees (VECs) do accept the applications after this date. It can take some time to obtain the documentation, so you should try to start obtaining them soon.


Not sure where to begin?

There is a 'Getting Started' section available here which should give you the basics. Remember though, your local authority / VEC are the ones who will be giving you the grant, so queries should be addressed to them first and foremost.


Income Limits & Grant Rates for 2006/7:

As of the 14th of July 2006, they have not been placed online, but you should check with your local authority / VEC as to whether they are due out anytime soon.


Frequently Asked Questions:

There are some here, with several more placed on individual local authority / VEC websites around the country.


Application Form:

Available at your local authority/VEC. Ring them to send one out to you, but you can start looking at what is needed by viewing the sample application form here (PDF).

There are also accompanying notes to the application form here (PDF).


Contact Details:

1. City/County Councils: http://www.mygrant.ie/cc.html.
2. VECs: http://www.mygrant.ie/vec.html.
3. Oasis.gov.ie: http://oasis.gov.ie/education/third_level_education/maintenance_grant_schemes_for_students_on_third_level_courses.html.
4. Students' Unions: http://www.mygrant.ie/su.html.
5. Student Support Unit:

The Department of Education & Science have a Student Support Unit, which can be helpful when explaining some of the detail. Their contact details are:

The Student Support Unit,
Department of Education and Science,
Portlaoise Road,
Tullamore,
Co. Offaly
Tel: (0506) 21363 or (01) 8734700
E-mail: StudentSupportUnit-Tullamore@education.gov.ie


***

Good luck,

Dónal

Oirthir

On a mildly related note, the Registration Fee (or Student Services Fee, or whatever) has increased to €800 for 06/07

Letter to Heads of Colleges (DOC)

sully-gormo

Meath Co. Co. are accepting applications until December 31st. The list of documents you have to come up with is pretty substantial so get ur skates on!