Confused, applied online.. Help!

LaLucy

My boyfriend applied for a grant online, was he supposed to print it out and send it or anything? Also he paid 250 in student fees to register. We are on social welfare which will be btea for him and now the college has all these other fees that have to be paid next week. I'm worrying as I know he won't speak up and say he is waiting for grant to pay his fees and we can't afford to pay these! I'm so worried the grant was applied for correctly, is it just straight forward apply online or did he need to print off something to send? Also is the town we live in or the town the college is in that he would have applied to? I can't ask him as he bites my ed off with stress!

kthnxbai

Right, well, I'll answer your last question first. You apply to the town council of wherever you live. So say you live in Dublin, but are going to college in Cork, you'd apply to Dublin City Council, and you'd get paid by them.

I assume it's the maintenance grant he has applied for?

It's been 4 years since I applied for the grant myself, so I don't know if you apply online. I know when I did it you couldn't. You also needed to send in financial documents and stuff. Has he done that? I would be suspicious if he didn't have to send in any proof of income or bills or id or anything. Unless he emailed them or something?

I'd advise you ring the council themselves and ask them if they received his application. And ring the college. Usually, they'll waive the fees if you're on the grant or applying for it. However, this does depend on the college. If you do get the grant, depending on what category you get, they should refund the 250 euro. If you know he's getting btea, just tell the college that. They should just then claim the council for the fees.


If you're worried the best thing you can do is just ring the council and the college and ask them. I get my grant from DCC and I've always found the grant office really helpful and nice.

shoppergal

I thought that since last year new applicants couldn't get BTEA and the grant. One or the other. I could be wrong but maybe check it out.

LaLucy

Thank you both for answering. He rang the offices and the lady told him he had been rejected the grant. He knew he wouldn't be awarded the grant, it's just the fees he needs help with. Maybe they've stopped that too? Just worried because we have a baby and it's difficult to gather these large sums. On monday he has to pay 150 for e.g which he was only told about yesterday so we have to use his btea to cover that on top of trying to live, him paying the train fares etc. I don't understand how fas students are paid to do courses but he can't get help and we'll have to live very frugally with our baby, could be worse though.

Paula_K

LaLucy wrote: »

Thank you both for answering. He rang the offices and the lady told him he had been rejected the grant. He knew he wouldn't be awarded the grant, it's just the fees he needs help with. Maybe they've stopped that too? Just worried because we have a baby and it's difficult to gather these large sums. On monday he has to pay 150 for e.g which he was only told about yesterday so we have to use his btea to cover that on top of trying to live, him paying the train fares etc. I don't understand how fas students are paid to do courses but he can't get help and we'll have to live very frugally with our baby, could be worse though.

As far as I'm aware FAS students would get no more than the same rate a BTEA student would get. Could be wrong though.

He should get free fee's if he has never done a course at the same level before, and if he falls under the limit of income requirements.

Those requirements can be found half way down the page I've linked to.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/education/third_level_education/fees_and_supports_for_third_level_education/maintenance_grant_schemes_for_students_on_third_level_courses.html#l62fd2

LaLucy

I thought he could get fees paid for but it's a PLC course he's doing which he did 10 years and didn't complete. Could that be the season? He got a grant rejection letter the other day but it didn't mention fees. Maybe the free fees only apply to third level?

Annasopra

LaLucy wrote: »

I thought he could get fees paid for but it's a PLC course he's doing which he did 10 years and didn't complete. Could that be the season? He got a grant rejection letter the other day but it didn't mention fees. Maybe the free fees only apply to third level?

If he did a course before that is probably the reason the council is not giving him a fee grant.

I would suggest maybe asking the SVP for help and/or maybe trying to get a credit union loan

Paula_K

LaLucy wrote: »

I thought he could get fees paid for but it's a PLC course he's doing which he did 10 years and didn't complete. Could that be the season? He got a grant rejection letter the other day but it didn't mention fees. Maybe the free fees only apply to third level?

Oh right sorry, didn't know it was for PLC. Yeah, no grant awarding agency will pay the fee's for a PLC course regardless of your income (I found that out the hard way last year.) It's fairly ****e as some of those fee's can be quite high.

They did introduce a new fee of €200 on top of regular PLC fee's this year, but you don't have to pay if you have a medical card or are on BTEA though.