postgrad county council maintenance grant confusion!

cassElliot

Hi


I'm just reading over info for a county council maintenance grant (i'm a phd student) and I'm a bit confused about the amounts and the fees... I read that if I was to qualify for a maintenance amount plus a student contribution fee... what is this??

also if tuition fees are applicable (which they are!) the info states that I would also be entitled to payment of same subject yo a max of 6270euro - I don't know if its lack of sleep or stupidity but I do not understand this statement.

Can anyone break it down into non-county council lingo!?

thanks loads :pac:

Tree

Are you already on the PhD, in which case you may still be eligible for the maintenance grant. If you're starting in september, the govt have kindly scrapped (effectively) all maintenance grants for postgraduate education.

The student fee contribution is currently up to the value of 6k but next year drops to 2k. Note also, that if your PhD funding covers this fee, then the council will not pay it.

cassElliot

thanks for the reply... i have no funding and would have to cover the costs of my course every year... so I take it the maintenance grant are covering my fees once they are below 6k??

Tree

Well, it's not a maintenance grant if it's for fees. You'll get €2k towards the fees (like the student contribution thing).

Assuming it's fulltime research:
Is it a research masters or a phd? And do you require the cost of equipment? Because, i would strongly recommend you not to do a phd without funding, the workload is too high to be doing it for free, if you ahve a half decent supervisor they'll help you find funding.

For the masters, if you could guarnatee to be in and out quick, it might be worth considering doing it for free, but otherwise, a research is a job with loads of overtime and your time deserves to be rewarded. It's near impossible to do a fulltime research degree and work at the same time to earn money for food/rent/life.

cassElliot

why 2k? where is that figure coming from? yes its an unfunded phd so far..

Tree

From the budget announcements for next year. They've slashed as much as they can tbh. I'd suggest talking to your supervisor about possible funding avenues, i know you spent the last four years studying for "free" but to do it for another five or six isnt reasonable, also, check out the postgrad forum and see if anyone has suggestions for funding bodies in your field.

cassElliot

ah ok I'm with you now... So I will be offered 2k towards my fees for next year?
thanks for your advice.

Annasopra

cassElliot wrote: »

ah ok I'm with you now... So I will be offered 2k towards my fees for next year?
thanks for your advice.

If you are eligible for it then yes

achmairt

If your income is under the limit (yet to be set), you will just be entitled to €2000 of the fees. If your income is under the limit for a top up grant which was €22700 last yr you would get fees up to a ceiling of €6270 provided the income includes long time Social Welfare. This is for people on very low incomes mainly Social Welfare applicants/parents. No actual grant for Postgrads this year.