Help,, Grants??

goose1

Eh starting UCD next year (hopefully) was just looking up info on the campuses and they seem reeeaslly expensive,, my dad's dead so im living with my mother who's income is below minimum wage..will i qualify for a grant,, if so how much and how soon does it come through?? cause im kiiinda screwed otherwise

Notorious

I'm not down with all the grants and what not, but here is an Irish site that seems very helpful. Speak to your local county council and grill them about the requirements for grants. They'll probable get you to fill out a few forms regarding the household income to check if your eligible.

Good luck.

Pride Fighter

Yes you are entitled to a County Council or VEC grant. Where do you live?? If you live more than 15 miles away from the College you are going to you get a top up. Also if your mum is on lone parents you get a top up. You should be able to get a 100% grant, possibly topped up by those 2 things I mentioned. A 100% grant also enables you to not pay 'registration' fees of 1500euro, but you have to pay a registration fee of 150euro, even with the grant.

sweet-rasmus

Yes, get in contact with you local authority asap. You seem in a rush for the money and truth is that the grants always take a while to come in. You get it 3 times a year, first should be around end of Oct, then end of Jan then April or something. As said, if your mother is on single parents allowence then you will be entitled to a top up. It really all comes down to filling in those forms; once that's done you'll know what you are entitled to.

Time Magazine

If you live more than 24km from UCD, you will probably get your registration fee paid and get a €3,420 "maintenance grant", which basically means spending money. Depending on the exact details of your mother's financial situation (if she's claiming some form of social welfare check here) you could be entitled to €6,690 maintenance.

Get onto your County Council, and good luck

Edited to add: rent isn't that bad depending on your standards. A friend of mine is renting a room in an (admittedly fairly beat-up) student house in Stillorgan. It costs him €250 per month. Stillorgan is about ten minutes from UCD and his house is five minutes from the 46A bus which goes past UCD every ten minutes. Not bad. A quick look on daft.ie shows it's not that rare either, see http://www.daft.ie/searchsharing.daft?search=1&s[cc_id]=ct1&s[a_id]=293&s[mnp]=&s[mxp]=500&s[room_type]=either&s[search_type]=sharing&s[furn]=&s[refreshmap]=1&offset=10&limit=10&search_type=sharing&id=504281 for example.

Leonid

There is also the access program. Afaik, Its run in all of Ireland's universities.

http://www.ucd.ie/access/

Don't know much about it or how you apply, but I'd say it would be worth looking into.

starface

yes. If you live 24km from the college you should be recieving around 6000 (this includes the top up) from the co co. provided they havent cut costs this year.

Also in U.C.D there is the acess program, new era. They provide some more money (used to be 1800 but think its droppin too 1000) and other aid and guidance. however not all schools qualify for this so you've need to check that out. I think your school must be registered as a disadvantaged scool (a lot of school are).

Then when you get here there is also the student assisant fund which offer more money to those struggling. i recieved an extra 600 from them this term.

Some organisation in your home town might offer extra grants aswel. All the application forms take effort but it is well worth it. like you i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the grants i recieve so it's well worth the effort.