MAture student grand/BTEA quilifying income

hellosailor

Hello Fellow mature students...

I have applied to do nursing this year, fingers crossed I get in.
I'm a little lost in relation to grants etc...
I'm 28 years old on one parent family payment with 2 children.
I have been unemployed since Dec 2011 how ever I did a 9 month FAS course in Health care last year and have just been excepted into a 26 week computer applications course also with FAS.
My query is: will I still qualify for a grant or BTEA if I start the FAS course?
The course starts the end of Feb and is 26 weeks long so it will bring me up to the start of Aug sometime... I will still be on one parent family payments whilst Im in FAS and will get a FAS payment on top of it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have already looked on citizens info but am still unsure.

Thanks

paperclip2

Periods of time on FAS courses can be counted towards the 9 month qualifying period for BTEA for 3rd level as long as there is no more than a 4 week gap between finishing the FAS course and starting the 3rd level course and as long as you were getting a social welfare payment immediately before startng the FAS course.
If the gap is more than 4 weeks you need to be eligible for a Social Welfare payment such as OPFP or Jobseekers in order to be eligible for BTEA.

If you are on OPFP and are going to college you may be eligible to keep that payment while studying and apply for both the fee grant and maintenance grant from SUSI.

However if you get the maintenance grant this can be counted against any Rent Allowance you might be getting as this payment may be reduced.

Info available on the DSP website: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Back-to-Education-Allowance-Scheme.aspx#1.11

1.12 Other Schemes that count towards the qualifying period for BTEA

Periods spent on the BTEA, Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), Full-time FÁS/Fáilte Ireland Training Course, FIT, Community Employment Scheme, Part-time Job Incentive Scheme, Community Services Programme, Rural Social Scheme, Tus, National Internship,WPP, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Short-term Enterprise Allowance, FÁS Job Initiative or Job Assist may count towards the qualifying period for BTEA purposes. This provision applies only in cases where the BTEA applicant was in receipt of a relevant Social Welfare payment immediately prior to or after participation in any of the above schemes.

In cases where there is a break (in excess of 4 weeks) between ceasing participation in one of the above mentioned schemes and commencing an approved course of study, a person must establish an entitlement to a relevant Social Welfare payment in order to qualify for BTEA.

hellosailor

Thanks for the info! So that means that I would probably qualify for BTEA or a grant then?

paperclip2

hellosailor wrote: »

Thanks for the info! So that means that I would probably qualify for BTEA or a grant then?

Or both if you are on OPFP.

hellosailor

Thank you so much! I was so confused about the whole thing haha.

ckd

sorry for jumping on your thread hellosailor but I was just wondering if anybody could tell me if i'd be entitled to the btea this september, I only signed on jobseekers on the 4th of January???

Maldesu

ckd wrote: »

sorry for jumping on your thread hellosailor but I was just wondering if anybody could tell me if i'd be entitled to the btea this september, I only signed on jobseekers on the 4th of January???

I don't think you would get it. They need you to be on Jobseekser's for 234 days excluding Sundays, but that would depend on the course start date. You be at around 243 days, but with Sundays removed would be 208 (calculating from the 4th Jan to 4 Sept). You might be best speaking to them in the SW office, but I had a friend refused for being out 10 days.