What is the closing date for applying for the grant?

While the ultimate closing date for grant applications is in early November, SUSI really stresses that renewal applicants get their applications in by 6 June and new applicants submit their forms before 8 July so that their applications receive priority processing.

By applying after these deadlines, students risk a delay in receiving their grant. You don’t want to have to wait until several months into the academic year before receiving your grant and being under financial pressure as a result.

ADVERTISEMENT

What’s the most important thing about applying for a grant if you’re a farmer?

Where there is self-assessed income (eg self-employed/farming or rental income), then tax returns for 2015 should be filed with the Revenue Commissioners as soon as possible as SUSI requires confirmation from the Revenue Commissioners that your tax returns and a full set of accounts for the previous year have been received.

People often tend to leave filing their tax returns until November but the key message is to file your tax returns sooner rather than later – SUSI can’t process applications from farmers or the self-employed until they file their tax returns. Filing tax returns doesn’t mean you’ve to pay your taxes there and then – you can still wait until later to do that.

The vast majority of outstanding grant applications to be processed each year belong to students who come from a self-employed or farming background because a lack of documentation is holding them up or they were submitted late.

If you’re going to study abroad, are you entitled to a maintenance grant?

Yes, SUSI provides a maintenance grant to eligible students studying in approved institutions outside the State and within the EU, but there is no funding available towards course fees. These grants are provided for undergraduate courses only.

There is no list available of approved institutions as SUSI assesses courses and colleges outside the State on a case-by-case basis following criteria that can be found at this link; https://susi.ie/eligibility/student-studying-outside-the-state/approved-institutionscourses-for-students-studying-outside-the-state.

If you are a Post-Leaving Cert (PLC) student, are you eligible to apply for a grant? The answer is yes – students doing PLC courses are eligible for a maintenance grant and they can apply through SUSI (the centralised authority for processing student grants) but there is no funding towards the cost of course fees.

However, course fees for PLC courses are generally much cheaper than for courses in ITs or universities as you don’t have to pay a student contribution charge for a PLC course.

If you are doing a postgraduate course, are you entitled to a maintenance grant? No, but there is funding available to eligible students towards the fees of a postgraduate course.

Another tip for students applying is to ensure they enter their bank details into their own SUSI online account before September so SUSI can pay them their maintenance grant.