Late application and fees

THEFRIDGE

Hi folks

I am planning on going to college in Sept this year as i have been made redundant this week. Now here is my fears and questions.
Obviously I have missed the boat in terms of CAO so i am waiting on the vacant places options to go up next week. If this option doesn't work out for me I am not sure what to do.
I will be entitled to BTEA but have a few questions around it.
It entitles me to weekly money but does it entitle me to free course fees ????(i am aware there is €500 per year).

I rang dublin business school today in relation to one of their courses but the price was €5,200 per year which is way beyond what i would be able to pay and she said as its a private college they don't really get grants..

I am really confused as I am waiting on the CAO and then flying out to Vegas to get married 3 days later so really working on a tight timeline.

Worst case senario I do a course part time, but would i be entitled to BTEA ??
If i do a FETAC course for a year would it help me move in to complete degree the following year??


Can anyone clarify, advise on my situation welcome and needed.

Thanks in advance.

CD8ED

Hey,

I'm a mature student myself returning to college in sept full time. I'm 99% sure that you have to be in a full time course to be eligible for the back to education allowance.

You can apply to your local VEC to have your fees paid, but there's alot of red tape and bureaucracy involved. You may be eligible for a maintanence grant from the VEC as well but that's only a shot in the dark on my part!

Ya colud try www.grantsonline.ie

And the citizens information site is a great resource.

Good luck THEFRIDGE

THEFRIDGE

CD8ED wrote: »

Hey,

I'm a mature student myself returning to college in sept full time. I'm 99% sure that you have to be in a full time course to be eligible for the back to education allowance.

You can apply to your local VEC to have your fees paid, but there's alot of red tape and bureaucracy involved. You may be eligible for a maintanence grant from the VEC as well but that's only a shot in the dark on my part!

Ya colud try www.grantsonline.ie

And the citizens information site is a great resource.

Good luck THEFRIDGE

This is what i got from the social welfare and citizens advise sites

If you are awarded statutory redundancy under Irish legislation, you can have immediate access to the BTEA. To qualify you must:

Take part in the BTEA scheme within one year of getting statutory redundancy
Be entitled to a qualifying social welfare payment before starting your course .

CD8ED

I find the sites awful vague sometimes, seems like they want to make it hard for us mature students! Maybe dropping into your local citizens advice office might prove fruitful?

Apologies I can't be more help

dublin daz

In order to get BETA you need to be in receipt of some form of social welfare for at least nine months prior to entering third level education. Three months for second level.

There is an exception to this if you are awarded statutory redundancy under Irish legislation, you can have immediate access to the BTEA

The cost of education is €500 per academic year.

You will have to apply to the local VEC or County Council for maintenance grants. This can only cover registration and or tuition fees. You are not eligible for the maintenance portion paid in two installments. Maintenance is paid twice in the academic year to students who would not be on BETA.

If you are applying to private institutions then you are not eligible for "free fees" as funded by the HEA.

For example, you apply to UCD / DIT / TCD etc the HEA (higher education authority) pay the tuition fees (approx 5,500) and the County Council pay the 2,000 reg fee. You pay the student centre / sports centre / students union fee. This is around 100 euro per year.

I am sorry if this is not clear, feel free to ask me to clarify as I do hope I have not been a hindrance.

best of luck with the courses.

PS you have one year from the date of redundancy to enter onto a programme and receive BETA.

dublin daz

Sorry, I would just add, the higher education grant may cover third level fees in some private institutions.

Look at the recognised courses you would be interested in doing.

I know for example the Barrister-at-Law degree from Kings Inns is a course the council will pay towards.

I think the maximum they will pay is €6270 and you pay the balance. Most courses are around the 5k mark so if they will cover the particular course you should have very little fees (students union / sports centre etc)

THEFRIDGE

Thanks for the replies. If I do a level 5 Fetac course would this help me onto the ladder. Would it reduce my length of degree if i was to go back full time next year ?

dublin daz

Level 5 FETAC will strengthen your application on the basis of mature years.

The assessment board will look at courses you done prior to applying for a degree.

I am not 100% sure and it may vary from institution to institution but most degrees are level 7 (ord) or 8 (hons) so you would need to check the individual courses to see if they will grant exemptions based on the FETAC 5.

What about an access course? Trinity run one full time and will help make the transition to university if you have been out of education for a while.

http://www.tcd.ie/accessprogrammes/

UCD also offer Access courses which will help you onto a degree programme. If you achieve 60% in your overall grade you have an automatic guarantee of a place for example.

http://www.ucd.ie/adulted/

Here are some sites which may help as well with understanding the various qualifications and levels.

http://www.qualifax.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=192&Itemid=13

http://www.nqai.ie/FanDiagram/nqai_nfq_08.html

Larianne

THEFRIDGE wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. If I do a level 5 Fetac course would this help me onto the ladder. Would it reduce my length of degree if i was to go back full time next year ?

What course do you want to do? Some FETAC courses do lead onto degree courses. Just have to do a bit of research! It should state whether you can continue on to degree level in the college prospectus.

THEFRIDGE

Here is my first choice :
http://www.it-tallaght.ie/FullTimeCourses/Computing/Name,17461,en.html

Or something along them lines

Larianne

THEFRIDGE wrote: »

Here is my first choice :
http://www.it-tallaght.ie/FullTimeCourses/Computing/Name,17461,en.html

Or something along them lines

Have you contacted the college directly yet? They should be able to let you know roughly if they will have vacant places and also should know of any FETAC courses which would allow you to progress to this course.

I just see now on the webpage it mentions a link scheme:

Links Scheme
Any full FETAC (NCVA) Level 5/6 Award provided it contains one of the following in the award:
C20174 Maths for Engineering, C20175 Maths for Computing, C20139 Maths or B20029 Statistics.

so they should be able to put you in the right direction.