Postgraduate student grants

If you are enrolling in a postgraduate course, you may get financial support under the Student Grant Scheme.

To qualify for a student grant, you must meet nationality, immigration and residency criteria. You must also pass a means test (see ‘Means test and income limits for the postgraduate student grant’ below).

Student grant applications for the academic year 2024-2025 are open. You apply online for a student grant (see ‘Applying for a student grant' below).

Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) is the grant-awarding authority that handles all grant applications.

International protection students

If you are in the international protection system, you may qualify for financial support through the International Protection Student Scheme (for Further and Higher Education Students) 2024-2025.

You can qualify for assistance under the Student Grant Scheme in one of the following 3 ways:

1. A postgraduate fee contribution of up to €4,000 and a maintenance grant.
2. A postgraduate fee grant of up to €6,270 and a maintenance grant, if you qualify for the special rate of grant (see ‘Special rate of grant’ below).
3. A postgraduate fee contribution only of up to €4,000.

Financial assistance is available under the Student Grant Scheme towards the cost of tuition fees for approved postgraduate courses in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

You cannot get support under the Student Grant Scheme for postgraduate courses in another EU country.

How much maintenance grant will I get?

The SUSI maintenance grant rate you get depends on:

• Your assessed means (see ‘Means test and income limits for the postgraduate student grant’ below)
• The distance you normally live from the college (you get the ‘adjacent rate’ if you normally live 30 kilometres or less from your college, and the ‘non-adjacent’ rate if you live more than 30 kilometres away)
• If you’re a disadvantaged student (see ‘Special rate of grant’ below)

Special rate of grant

Postgraduate students who meet a number of conditions may qualify for the special rate of grant. If you qualify, you can get your tuition fees paid and essential field trips (up to €6,270). You may also qualify for a special maintenance grant.

To qualify for the special rate of grant:

• You must have met the conditions for the standard maintenance grant under the Student Grant Scheme for the academic year 2024-2025.
• Your total reckonable income in the tax year January to December 2023 must be €26,200 or less, not including Qualified Child Increases and standard exclusions (the reckonable income limit can increase with the number of dependent children – see ‘Other family members in college’ below).
• Your parents or guardian (or you, if you are an independent student), must be getting certain social welfare payments or participating in a designated programme on 31 December 2023.

Qualifying social welfare payments and programmes include:

• Long-term social welfare payments
• Working Family Payment (WFP)
• Designated programmes (for example, a Community Employment Scheme)

You can find out more about what social welfare payments and schemes are eligible, and how they can be combined to help you meet the required criteria.

Who can’t get a maintenance grant?

You cannot get a maintenance grant if you are:

• Getting a Back To Education Allowance (BTEA)
• Getting a Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) allowance
• A tuition student

A tuition student is someone who fulfils all the conditions for a student grant except for residence in the State, but who has been resident in an EEA state or Switzerland for 3 of the last 5 years.

The means test for a student grant in 2024-2025 is based on your and your family's gross income for the previous full tax year (2023). However, if you or your family have had a change of circumstances from 1 January 2024, your changed circumstances will be taken into account. See what counts as a change in circumstances on the SUSI website.

SUSI looks at all ’reckonable income’ when assessing your student grant application. Reckonable income is gross income from all sources. Some social welfare payments and financial support payments are excluded.

You can deduct up to €7,925 (previously €6,552) for your earnings outside of term-time (known as ‘holiday earnings’).

Your applicant class determines whose income is included in the income calculation for grant assessment purposes. There are 3 types of applicant class:

• Dependent student
• Mature dependent student
• Independent student

Read more about reckonable income on the SUSI website and in the Student Grant Scheme 2024 (pdf).

Income limits for maintenance grant and fee grant

The family income limits for a maintenance grant and a postgraduate fee contribution in 2024-2025 are set out in the table below. These income limits are applied after your means are assessed.

Income limits for the fee grant only

The family income limits for a standard rate postgraduate fee contribution only (with no maintenance grant) in 2024-2025 are set out in the table below.

Other family members in college

The reckonable income limits may be increased for each additional family member who is doing a full-time course of at least one year’s duration:

• In full maintenance (Band 1), special rate and postgraduate fee contribution only categories by €4,950
• In part maintenance (Bands 2, 3 and 4) categories by €4,785

If you are an independent student, the family member taken into account is your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant. If you are dependent on your parents, the family members taken into account are your parent(s) and their other dependent children.

Read more about income limits for postgraduate students.

Online applications for the student grant 2024-2025 are open. The closing date for grant applications is usually sometime in November.

You must apply for your grant on the SUSI website online. If your application is successful, your grant or fee contribution is awarded when you confirm you have accepted your college place.

Read about how to:

• Apply for a student grant
• Appeal to SUSI if you are unhappy with a decision made about your application
• Renew your student grant application for another academic year

If you have any questions or need help applying for a student grant, contact the SUSI Support desk Monday-Friday, 9am-5.30pm (excluding public holidays).

You can claim tax relief on postgraduate tuition fees.

You should contact your college or university to find out about other financial supports, scholarships or bursaries available. You can also find information on the Higher Education Authority website.

Some financial institutions offer loans to students to want to do a postgraduate course.