Maintenance grant for 2nd time doing 1st year

jano1

Hi - can anyone help?
My son completed 1st year of an honours full time degree in an IT college but failed the year in 2007/2009. He worked in a temporary job last year and hopes to return to start a different full time honours degree next month. He didn't receive a maintenance grant the first time but our circumstances have disimproved and this year he would qualify in terms of our income. We know he would have to pay fees which he has saved himself but can he apply for the grant for first year as he hadn't already received one?

cul-2008

I'm interested to hear the replies to this too as I'm in a similar situation.

dave98

as far as i know he cant. I dont think they back date it anymore. Just be careful your sons income for the year is also taken into account. Best of luck with it though

Verbal_Kint

in a nutshell whatever he received the first time he will not receive again.

if he got fees paid the first time he will have to pay the fees for the first year himself now which could be in the region of E5-9k + E500-E1000 registration fees.

if he went to college for part of a year and he received one grant cheque he will have to pay the fees himself this time and go without the first grant cheque but he will receive the last two cheques.

if he is over 23 for an undergrad he can apply as mature, if he doesnt live with the parents he can apply as independent mature and receive a higher rate of grant in his later years.

each college has a student assistance fund if students are running low on cash, the students union will be able to tell you more.

the best thing that could have happened to him if he failed first year is that he had to work himself to get the fees, this time around he will go to the lectures and get value for HIS money.

harsh but fair.

jano1

Thanks for the replies.

Dave98 - we would not be looking for back dating of a grant, I meant that he will apply for one for Sep 09 onwards for the first time ever. He won't actually get any grant cheques based on our income. He just would just qualify for Level 1; no payment but get the reg/student services fee paid on his behalf at best.

He is still only 19 even after a year of college and a year of work so is a dependent student. Websites seem to suggest that if you have a year completed in college, you must contact the grant authority for advice regarding eligibility. I agree it is fair that he pay his course fees as he had his chance at first year already but would hope that the reg fee would be covered.

Unfortunately when he was in first year in 2007 he had undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome and developed chronic depression as a result of failing to cope with the change involved in leaving home. This year he hopes to start a degree near home and live at home so the lack of an actual payment won't be such a big deal hopefully, although we are now a one-income family since my OH was made redundant.

dave98

well best of luck to ye anyways hope it all works out.

jano1

Just discovered having read more about grants that if you did year 1 of an honours degree already (pass or fail), you will not qualify for a maintenance grant for year 1 of a new honours degree even if you did not get a grant the first time around. What the previous comment refers to is that if you only did for example 2 terms, you cannot get a maintenance for those terms second time around but when you get to the 3rd term, because you hadn't done it before, you can get a grant from then on. So if you did a full year already, with or without a grant, you have to wait until 2nd year to qualify for maintenance.

[FONT=&quot]"Apart from the special provisions for second chance students in Clause 3.3, candidates who have previously pursued an undergraduate course approved for the purposes of the Higher Education Grants Scheme, the Vocational Education Committees’ Scholarship Scheme or the Third Level Maintenance Grants Scheme for Trainees (formerly ESF Scheme) shall not receive a grant under this Scheme until they have completed an equivalent period of study at undergraduate level, irrespective of whether or not a grant was paid previously. A Local Authority shall have discretion to waive this provision in exceptional circumstances, such as certified serious illness." [/FONT]Southtippcoco.ie