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Support for mature students

  • 16-01-2013 6:47pm
    #1
    GreenTech
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26 ✭


    Hi All,

    This question may have been asked a number of times and grants etc. seem to have changed recently so I was hoping maybe their have been changes in other areas which I'm not aware of.
    I have returned to college recently to complete the 4th year of my course. I was working for a few years and I decided that it was time to return and finish what I started and I'm hoping to follow up with a masters next year. As I was working I was not on any form of unemployment benefit before i returned and I'm not entitled to any of the schemes ie BTE / VTOS scheme. I qualified for the student grant but I only got the 'adjacent rate' which works out at €1215 a year. As a mature student I had no choice but to apply for my grant using my rental address which is within 40km of the college as I worked in Cork and the college is in Cork. I always understood that the adjacent rate was for students who were close enough to the college to live with parents... is this correct? My earnings were very low last year so I should have been getting the full grant apart from the 40km rule! As a mature student I am obviously going to have to live within 40km of the college and I don't have any family living in Cork! (Besides I haven't relied on parents for over 10 years so its not even an option at this stage!) I dont think SUSI are going to bend this rule but is there any other form of assistance available? I can't understand how I can get unemployment benefit if I don't have a job, yet I don't get anything if I choose to continue my education? It is continued education as I really only took a few years to work and build experience. I can't find any form of support (other than the €1215 a year!) and I have been looking for part time work for a long time with very little hope of anything! I would prefer to work but it may not be my choice! It seems a backward system as I may actually end up on the dole or emigrating rather than doing a masters as students can't be expected to live on €1215 a year! (In fact a masters student doesn't qualify for a grant any more so you literally have nothing to live on if you are a mature masters student!)
    Am I missing something as I don't understand how someone who chooses an education gets nothing but someone who gets made redundant gets unemployment benefit? I mean no disrespect to anyone on unemployment benefit as I have lots of friends in that boat and its certainly not by choice! It just seems odd that you have to wait to become unemployed to go back to college even though companies looking to set up in Ireland are crying out for people who have Level 8 degrees or level 9 masters!


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