Maintenance Grant - How common ?

redout

As above how common is it among students to have a maintenance grant ? I was looking into it but not sure I will qualify.

dramabob

Everything you need to know:

http://www.dit.ie/study/mature/support/finance/grants/hegs/

I know this bounces you over to a DIT site which is aimed primarily at Mature Students, but that's because it's what I do for a living since graduating from DCU.

Any more questions, my office contact details are at the bottom of the above page

fatbhoy

This might help too.

Carri

redout wrote: »

As above how common is it among students to have a maintenance grant ? I was looking into it but not sure I will qualify.

There's no harm in actually applying.. If they refuse you, then you'll know you don't qualify.

When I originally applied, I didn't think I'd get it, but luckily I did.

redout

Thanks for the replies but I was more trying to find out what kind of percentage of the student body receives a grant ? Would it be below 50% and if so how much would people guess from experience ?

dramabob

Hi OP,

I don't see why you need to know the percentages. The Grant Authorities don't have a quota - there's no "We can only give out grants to X% of applicants" or any other such policy. If you qualify for the grant, you get the grant. If you don't, you don't.

The percentages of students on grants vary wildly from year to year and from college to college anyway, so while I may have access to those figures in DIT (which I'm not going to share here, as after all, I enjoy having a job), I wouldn't have a clue what the numbers are like in DCU.

Boiling it down, if you're not a mature student then you'll be means-tested based on your parents' income for Jan-Dec 2009. If your parents are separated/divorced, you'll need written proof of this and then you'll only be means tested based on the income of the one you live with.

If you're not a mature student, it doesn't matter whether you live in the family home or not, you still get means-tested based on parental income.

If said parental income is under €41,000 or so (and you don't already have a degree), then you get the grant. If it's between €41K and about €52K, you may get a 75%, 50% or 25% grant depending.

Under no circumstances will an eligible candidate be denied the grant because of a quota system.

Hope this helps!

Bob

redout

dramabob wrote: »

Hi OP,

I don't see why you need to know the percentages.

As I said already I am not looking for all the info you posted. I already read it off the internet before I started this thread. I was just curious to know what sort of figure of the 3rd level population in the country are on a grant. Its hardly a state secret and something that is quoted in national newspapers and the news from time to time.

Carri

redout wrote: »

As I said already I am not looking for all the info you posted. I already read it off the internet before I started this thread. I was just curious to know what sort of figure of the 3rd level population in the country are on a grant. Its hardly a state secret and something that is quoted in national newspapers and the news from time to time.

I know alot of people on grants but double that amount of people who either aren't elligible or those who never bothered to apply.

To come up with any sort of percent for it is completely impossible.

redout

Carri wrote: »

I know alot of people on grants but double that amount of people who either aren't elligible or those who never bothered to apply.

Thats the kind of response I was looking for.

Cheers

*shadow*

quite a few students I know get the grant. If you ring any of the Co.Co they should be able to tell you what sort of an increase there's been. Many Counties experienced huge delays for a number of reasons this year and one was due to the sharp rise in applicants.

Also DCU's student assistance fund has seen an increase in the number of students applying to them for money. They'l help many students that may not qualify for a grant by giving them money for food/books/accommodation ect.