Masters and Local Authority Grants

gottcha_goin

Hi,

Im going on to do my masters in september of this year and have corporate sponsorship from one of the Big 4. However, I am also currently in receipt of a local authority grant for the past 3 years in university. I contacted my Big 4 firm in relation to such and they said it was either one or the other (sponsorship or grant). I informally said i will be sticking with the sponsorship (basically cause it is a guaranteed figure and obviously more money).

However, I recently contacted my local authority on the issue and they said they did not take into account bursaries of up to €15,000, therefore meaning that my sponsorship with the Big 4 firm would not be recognised as "relevant income" for the issuing of a grant. Thus, I can still claim the grant according to them.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Can you still claim the grant if you are in receipt of sponsorship? I would very much appreciate any replies as it would be a weight of my shoulders to know that I could supplement the sponsorship with the grant if it were a runner.

Thanks

Celtise

I just saw this now but hope the information I have is of help.

I am in the same position. There was a clause regarding grant in my contract and I questioned its exact meaning. I was told I can receive both but inform college/company so that the local authority will give the college what ever amount of the course fee they are willing to pay first and company will cover the remainder (I assume once it's up to the limit they said they would pay).

As far as I can tell I will receive the same (or close to it) money for the company too as well as the grant.

Obviously it depends on situation but I think you should get it!

lou9

Know this might be a bit late!!I just completed a masters in accounting and I received a full grant even though I was being sponsored and the firm actually gave me extra funds as they get reimbursed by the local authority for the fees.

gottcha_goin

Do you need to inform the company? Is that a perquisite to getting both funding?

Thanks for the replies!

lou9

Yes inform them by phone or e mail that you are applying for a grant and they will tell you to send a copy of your grant confirmation letter when you receive it. I didn't receive mine til December/January but that depends on the local authority. What happens is they will contact the local authority and do all the sorting for you then, they get reimbursed the fees they paid for you, (or part of them anyway). I received a cheque off the firm for 1300 euro after this. I also had to pay something like 500 euro of the fees for the masters myself and then I got refunded this also from the college. You can send a scanned copy of your grant confirmation, you may need to also send this to the fees office of the college.

I was confused at first with my contract also, I thought I could only have one or the other but rang the firm and she explained everything!! Any more questions shout!!

Celtise

lou9 wrote: »

Yes inform them by phone or e mail that you are applying for a grant and they will tell you to send a copy of your grant confirmation letter when you receive it. I didn't receive mine til December/January but that depends on the local authority. What happens is they will contact the local authority and do all the sorting for you then, they get reimbursed the fees they paid for you, (or part of them anyway). I received a cheque off the firm for 1300 euro after this. I also had to pay something like 500 euro of the fees for the masters myself and then I got refunded this also from the college. You can send a scanned copy of your grant confirmation, you may need to also send this to the fees office of the college.

I was confused at first with my contract also, I thought I could only have one or the other but rang the firm and she explained everything!! Any more questions shout!!

I am hoping to have everything sorted with my local authority in the next month given past dealings with them I've always been lucky in being processed fast! But glad to know the college/company/local authority will sort it out between them if necessary.

One quick question though. Was the €1300 from the firm in addition to the sponsorship figures stated in your contract or instead of. This figure has also been quoted in my contract but doesn't clarify (maybe we are talking about the same firm ).

lou9

Yes that clause in my contract confused me too but I rang to clarify what it meant!! The 1300 is in addition to the sponsorship you receive so it's grand, get the grant, sponsorship and the extra 1300, comes in handy!!

Celtise

lou9 wrote: »

Yes that clause in my contract confused me too but I rang to clarify what it meant!! The 1300 is in addition to the sponsorship you receive so it's grand, get the grant, sponsorship and the extra 1300, comes in handy!!

SWEET! I was too afraid to ask if that was in addition or instead of because it would totally mess up funding the whole of the next year. Once we are talking about the same company I'm happy now but I suppose they all do pretty much the same anyways. Hope you had a good year in the masters, where did you do it?

lou9

Well you may want to clarify it with them but I do think they all do the same!! I did it in DCU, trust me you are in for a tough year!! I am still working on my thesis, it's due on July 31st and it is so hard, my results are out on Thursday so fingers crossed all the work was worth it!!where are u doing it?

Celtise

Yeah I will when the time comes to it! Oh I know and I have absolutely no energy for another year at college with having to do CAP1 study this summer too.

I'm not sure where yet. I had to reject UCD for personal reasons and should hear from NUIG this week or so now I have my results. I haven't even sorted anything for DCU yet as a back up. It might sound like I'm not organised but really I am, just confident I will get something somewhere!

Good luck with your thesis. I did a dissertation in 48 hours for final year so don't worry! Everything is doable in any amount of time!

Edit: Oh I just sorted DCU there. Just in general I was wondering what kinda numbers do they accept into the course? It is so strange that the application date is so late imo!