Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) is Ireland’s national awarding authority for further and higher education grants.
SUSI offers funding to eligible students in approved courses at PLC, undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Ireland and in some cases, to students studying in the UK or EU.
All types of students, from school leavers to mature students returning to education can apply for funding. For the 2024/25 academic year 81,509 students were awarded funding.
SUSI opens for new applications from 12 noon on Thursday, April 3.
This date also applies to people changing courses. Current grant holders have already received an email reminding them to renew their applications.
Even though priority closing dates are July 10 for new applicants, and June 5 for those renewing, SUSI personnel advise current and prospective students to apply early so that the application can be processed as soon as possible.
Students do not have to have accepted a course before applying.
Student grants are divided into maintenance grants and fee grants. Some students are eligible for both, others only qualify for the fee grant. Maintenance grants help students with their living costs.
The grant is paid directly to students through nine monthly installments over the course of the academic year.
Fee grants pay tuition fees for students who do not qualify for the Free Fees Scheme. Fee grants can also pay the student contribution and the cost of essential field trips.
To be eligible for a SUSI grant you must meet Nationality and Residency criteria. You must be undertaking an approved course and you must satisfy the previous education and progression criteria through progressing from your previous level of study, for example going from a 6 qualification to level 7.
Also, reckonable income must fall below certain thresholds. The income calculation is based on gross income for the previous calendar year.
For the coming academic year 2025/26 applications are assessed for the period of January 1 2024 to December 31, 2024.
Recent budgets have brought about positive changes, so it’s worth checking into for all students. SUSI’s eligibility reckoner makes it very easy to figure out if you might qualify for a grant.
The tables below give a summary indication of reckonable income limits. But keep in mind limits may be increased for each additional family member who is doing a full-time course of at least one year’s duration by €4,950 for band one, and by €4,785 for bands 2, 3 and 4.
Always refer to the SUSI website for more detailed information regarding your own specific circumstances.
The SUSI grant rate depends not only on means as outlined above, but also on two other factors – the distance you normally live from the college you’re going to attend; and if you qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant.
If you normally live 30 kilometres or less from your college, you get the ‘adjacent rate’.
If you live further away than 30 kilometres, you get the ‘non-adjacent rate’.
This is based on the distance of where you ordinarily lived in the year before you started college.
To qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant, you must meet all the normal criteria for the grant and have a total reckonable income in the tax year January to December 2024 of less than €27,400 (not including Qualified Child Increases and standard exclusions).
Your parent(s) or guardian(s) must, on 31 December 2024, have been getting a qualifying social welfare payment or participating in a designated programme, such as getting a long-term social welfare payment, getting a Working Family Payment, taking part in a Community Employment (CE) Scheme, or taking part in a Further Education and Training (FET) course or apprenticeship.
Looking at income from the previous year can cause problems for applicants who have experienced a sudden and unexpected drop in income.
Many people are unaware that if this is the case they can apply to be assessed under ‘change of circumstances’ whereby the income of 2024 is looked at instead.
Applying for the SUSI grant involves three simple steps- 1)creating your student portal online at susi.ie, 2)completing and submitting your application online, and 3)returning any requested documents. Once your application is processed you will receive a decision letter from SUSI.
See here for a very useful guide for new applicants, and follow me for regular updates and reminders.
A few final tips:
- Pay attention to the approved course list. Every year students get caught out by including unapproved courses in privately run colleges on their CAO form, and are then unable to take up these places without grant aid.
- SUSI grants are for further AND higher education including Post Leaving Cert courses (PLCs) and Tertiary courses.
- Student grants are also available to post-graduate students and to part-time under-graduate students.
- Under-graduate and post-graduate students pursuing approved courses outside the Irish State may apply for SUSI grants.
- If you did not receive a student grant from SUSI in the 2024/25 academic year, you can make a new grant application if you meet the criteria this year.
- If you are turned down for a SUSI grant you can appeal the decision.
- There is a similar, but separate, support scheme available to Asylum Seekers.
- And remember, if you are continuing your studies, you must reapply each year.
Gold Star Careers offers one-to-one or small group career advice, in-person or online, to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. See www.goldsarcareers.ie or Gold star Careers Instagram for more information.
SEE ALSO – Check out all of the other Martina Mulhall pieces here
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