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Student Grant?? Help

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  • 06-07-2011 4:21am
    #1
    Diana21x
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭


    hey im filling out the student grant now, Im wondering if i am eligible.
    I came to the section asking me if i have been to college before, well i was in an IT back in 2008/9 but dropped out after just before Christmas, I also did a course this year (finishsed in may) it was a fetac level 5 course

    Will i eligible for the grant if i have done courses before?


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    #2
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Diana21x wrote: »
    hey im filling out the student grant now, Im wondering if i am eligible.
    I came to the section asking me if i have been to college before, well i was in an IT back in 2008/9 but dropped out after just before Christmas, I also did a course this year (finishsed in may) it was a fetac level 5 course

    Will i eligible for the grant if i have done courses before?

    You probably will not be eligible for a grant or free fees for the first year of your course because you were doing a course in an IT and dropped out. There is a second chance student option but that is for returning after 5 years
    (6) A mature student pursuing an approved course following a break in studies of at least five years, in circumstances where the mature student previously
    attended, but did not successfully complete, a course and is returning in order
    to pursue an approved course in the relevant academic year, shall be known as
    a “second chance student”.

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #3
    achmairt
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭achmairt


    You will be able to pick up your grant where you left off with the previous IT course. ;)If you did three months of the IT course, you won't get a grant for the first three months. Also if your redg fee was paid for you, you will have to pay the 2000 redg fee this year. It sounds like you were able to defer your course so the fee may not have been paid for you.
    It doesn't matter about the PLC course, the time you spent on that course is not counted.


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    #4
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    achmairt wrote: »
    You will be able to pick up your grant where you left off with the previous IT course. ;)If you did three months of the IT course, you won't get a grant for the first three months. Also if your redg fee was paid for you, you will have to pay the 2000 redg fee this year. It sounds like you were able to defer your course so the fee may not have been paid for you.
    It doesn't matter about the PLC course, the time you spent on that course is not counted.

    I am almost certain that what you are saying is untrue - do you have any links to show what you are saying is correct?

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #5
    achmairt
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭achmairt


    Best to get it clarified by the VEC - new grants scheme has a lot of changes this year


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    #6
    paperclip2
    Registered Users Posts: 2,280 ✭✭✭paperclip2


    mango salsa wrote: »
    I am almost certain that what you are saying is untrue - do you have any links to show what you are saying is correct?

    Can't lay my hands on the relevant dept circular at the moment but if you contact the Student Support Office in the DES on 057 9325317 they will give you the official line.

    As it stands you cannot be funded to repeat a qualification at the same level or lower as one you already hold except in extreme cases e.g. where your existing qualification has become completely obsolete.

    If it is less than five years since you dropped out of a course then generally you will have forfeited your free fee status for the same period on any new course you start within this five year period.

    If you let five years elapse then you can return to third level education with your free fee eligibility restored.

    In many cases the same is true of the grant however the VEC's/ Co. Councils can take certain circumstances into account and may award the grant in cases where it may not seem to be warranted strictly speaking.

    Diana in your case you may have to pay the registration fees and part of the first years tuition and you might not get the grant for the first semester. The best thing to do is to call the relevant grant awarding body and they will clarify it for you. Regarding your fees call the number I gave at the start and that office should be able to clear up this question for you.

    Good luck.


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