College Choice: Depending on the course a student is pursuing he or she may be eligible for a grant under one of the following four schemes, explains Brian Mooney.
• The Higher Education Grant scheme, which applies largely to university honours degree courses.
• The Third-Level Maintenance Grant Scheme for trainees, which applies to most higher certificate and ordinary degree courses in the Institutes of Technology.
• The Vocational Education Committees' Scholarship Scheme, which applies to add-on primary honours degrees, where students have already pursued a higher certificate/ordinary degree-level course. This scheme also applies to certain courses in Northern Ireland.
• The Maintenance Grant Scheme for students attending Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses.
The Higher Education Grants Scheme is administered by the local authorities (eg Dublin City Council, Limerick County Council ).
The other three schemes are administered by the vocational education committees.
You can get full details of these maintenance grant schemes together with the grant application forms from your local authority or local vocational education committee.
Under the current system, an applicant must meet the essential conditions relating to means. There are, of course, other conditions, including those relating to the course, previous academic attainment, age, residence and nationality.
How does the means test work?
When you apply for a grant, the income which is assessed must be at or below a certain amount (the "reckonable income" limit). For the 2005-06 academic year, the reckonable income limits (based on income for the tax year 2004) are as follows:
If your family has fewer than four dependent children and parental income is less than €35,485 a year, you will qualify for a full maintenance grant. There are different thresholds for larger families, ranging from €38,990 to €52,910.
What is the rate of the grant?
Grants are paid at either of two rates:
• The non-adjacent rate, where the grant-holder's normal residence is more than 15 miles from the college attended.
• The adjacent rate, where the grant-holder's normal residence is 15 miles or less from the college attended.
The highest non-adjacent rate of grant is €3,020. The highest adjacent rate is €1,210. Lower rates of grant are payable, depending on the reckonable income.
Grant-holders who satisfy certain conditions may be eligible for what are known as "top-up grants", an amount additional to the ordinary grant. For 2005-06, the non-adjacent, ordinary grant plus the top-up has been increased to €5,355 and the adjacent rate to €2,145, giving top-ups of €2,335 and €935 respectively.
The net reckonable income limit for the top-up grant for the 2005-06 academic year is €15,626, all or part of which must be a specified social welfare or analogous payment.
Other supports
(a) The fund for students with disabilities. This provides grants for students who have sensory, physical, learning and/or communicative disabilities. The aim is to provide those students with assistance and/or equipment to enable them to pursue and complete their course of study.
Applications for funding are made by the disability/access officer in the student's third-level institution or by the principal in the student's PLC college .
(b) The student assistance fund (for approved third-level institutions). This assists students who, having started a third-level course, experience financial hardship and may be unable to continue their third-level studies.
Applications for funding should be made by the individual student to the access officer in their institution. Each third-level institution administers the fund on a confidential, discretionary basis. Further information is available from the access office or student services office in higher education colleges.
(c) The Millennium Partnership Fund for Disadvantage supports students from disadvantaged areas attending further or higher education courses.
Partnership companies and community groups manage the fund locally. Information on the fund can be obtained from Pobal 01-2400700
Deadline day
Today is the final day for initial CAO applications.
If you have not already submitted an application, and want to apply, go online to www.cao.ie and submit an application listing before the 5.15pm deadline.
Remember that you may select an entirely different list of courses in May-June, up to a July 1st, 2006, deadline using the "change of mind" facility.
• Today is the final deadline for initial CAO applications. These must reach the CAO in Galway by 5.15 this evening
• Series concluded