Surviving college until grant comes through??

rainbow66666

Hey guys, if your one of the many like me moving away for college next year and depend on the grant to help you survive and help pay for accommodation etc then I have a question.

How do you guys plan on keeping up financially until the grant actually comes through? I mean it could take a few months before you receive any money so how do you plan on paying bills etc until then?

I had a plan of getting a job during summer after the leaving cert to get enough to live until the grant came through but now I am starting to worry about what im going to do if I can't find work during summer since my parent cannot help out financially, should I resort to student overdraft or something? any advice would be great people as I a stressing myself over this a little too much....

Cruel Sun

Im planning on selling my organs on ebay

rainbow66666

maybe something more.....possible, was what i was looking for XD

Cruel Sun

Who wants my liver?

fizzyorange

Hey there.

I'm in the same boat as you. I live in Dublin but will be moving up to NUIG in September hopefully. I also have no help financially from my parents.

For your fees you can get a letter written to say you can pay them at a later date with your grant money. I forget who you ask for this letter but if you google it quickly you should find out.

Summer jobs are great, I hope to get one too, but if not I plan on selling some of my things. Old stuff I don't use any more, some guitars and that. I'm also not wasting any money on a debs or sixth year holiday.

Also apply for all of your grants as early as you can. The earlier you apply the earlier they reply. Local VECs also usually have sessions in July to show people how to fill in grant applications properly in order to avoid having to send and resend applications.

Hope that was of use, also OP, what college do you plan on going to?

rainbow66666

I'm in cork hoping to go to University of Limerick my friend

Ya I was aware you can tell the college that you will pay with the college fee's wasnt aware you had to write a letter though, I'm assuming you can just tell them once your accepted into the college that you are waiting for the grant to come through as thats what my friend did.....

ya ill get all the grant stuff sent off asap, the forms are supposed to be available during may so illget to it as fast as i can.... but yes like you i will sell things if i have too, i think i will need maybe about 1000-1500 to survive up there as my rent will be 55 a week and i can live on bout 20 a week for food, all just until the grant comes through i guess

fizzyorange

Oh, I think I have to contact the grant admissions office or something and they'll write a letter to NUIG. Most likely different for every college though.

Wow, 55? That's brilliant. I'm going for student accomm. for my first year and the cheapest I can get is 65. Yeah I guess it'll just be a waiting game until the grants come, but I've heard that student accomm can be very understanding if you are waiting for a grant to come in.

Here's hoping that we won't starve within the first few weeks.

rainbow66666

ya hopefully something should pull through for us best of luck with Dublin man, ya see i'm not getting like official student accomodation more like apartments set up by a landlord for students so thats why its kinda cheap.

Bears and Vodka

Lads, are you sure you apply through VECs this year? I read this:

New Grant Applications for 2012-13
A new ONLINE ONLY grant applications system is being introduced for 2012. All new applications will be made online to a single awarding authority, Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) through www.studentfinance.ie.

LoonyLovegood

I'm also from Dublin heading up to Galway. I'm gonna give my bookshelves a proper going over, I might also end up selling some signed band merchandise I have if I have to. I'm gonna look at giving grinds when I'm in college to try speed things up a little.

Bears and Vodka

CTYIgirl wrote: »

I'm gonna look at giving grinds when I'm in college to try speed things up a little.

Another incentive to get an A in a subject you're comfortable with - so you can advertise yourself later ''oh I give _______ grinds, I got an A in it in my LC etc'' :cool:

Saving up money starting NOW is probably the best way to pull through those few months. Giving grinds, summer jobs, selling stuff you dont need etc

seriouslysweet

If you want to do it on the cheap offer babysitting in return for the box room, my cousin did that. She ended up doing two evenings a week and one night, only stayed Mon to Fri and got her room for free.

Noelly

If you're going to a college with on campus accommodation and have proof you're getting a grant, some of them will help you work out a payment plan that will let you pay what you can each week until you get your grant in.

I know that NUI Maynooth and UL do it for definite, but I'm sure most universities do.