Irish Times - "[SUSI] Grants extended to students with household incomes of up to €115K"

@ClubMan, probably too subtle an attempt at irony on my part. There's something wrong with the country when families earning more than twice the average wage need help with 3rd level fees, and in many cases they most certainly do need them.
 
Purple said:
@ClubMan, probably too subtle an attempt at irony on my part. There's something wrong with the country when families earning more than twice the average wage need help with 3rd level fees, and in many cases they most certainly do need them.
Click to expand...
I'd have to disagree. A family income of even €90,000 would mean monthly incomes of €6000. With college going age children your mortgage is likely winding down, you've had 18 years of child benefit, and plenty of knowledge they're going to college. The max range of €110,000 would mean a monthly income of €7,000. 3 kids in college is unlikely, they'd need to be aged 1 year apart so more likely you'd have 2 kids in college at one time (I'm not including masters students here). That's fees of €7,000 per year (€28,000 over perhaps 6-7 years).

I don't think it's appropriate to fund these fees from the Exchequer. Perhaps the Government sees it as a return on investment by getting more people through college and into higher earning degrees paying more tax, but I disagree. The child of a family earning €50,000 p.a. is unlikely to make it to college without grants. Show me a child of a family earning c. €100,000 p.a. that doesn't go to college because their parents couldn't afford it...
 
A lot depends on the course and how full on it is. Some courses don’t allow time for part time jobs or even summer work.

I had 2 at uni at the same time, one on a 5 year course the other 4. Overlap of 4 years. Summers were when they worked and earned to pay their phones and transport etc. But laptops, special equipment etc added up.

€5k in fees was only the start. We chose to live in a city with several universities so that did help, but we paid up front for that.

Meanwhile my brother had 4 in full time daycare.. eye wateringly expensive. In theory he was putting aside the child benefit but really couldn’t. He doesn’t live in a city with universities so they’ll need rent as well. That’s going to be spendy. I can’t see them qualifying for grants.
 
By any measure I'm very comfortably off in terms of pension savings and other accumulated assets. But since quitting work a few years ago (due to burnout and disillusionment) my income has been quite low - just enough to use up my tax credits but more than enough to cover normal household expenditure.

My son started in university last year and at the time we weren't going to bother even trying for a SUSI grant because I assumed that we wouldn't qualify. But then I saw something on Askaboutmoney about households with up to c. €100K income getting at least €500 towards the student contribution. So, with some skepticism, I went through the eligibility checker and, to my amazement, he qualified for a full grant and also a small maintenance grant (living at home but university c. 12KM away).

The HEA Free Fees Initiative already covered tuition fees and the SUSI grant covers the full student contribution and also pays c. €200 p.m. during the academic year. He has also just qualified for this for his second year. It seems like a mad system that assesses only income and ignores all other means. But it would be crazy of us not to claim it as long as he qualifies.
 
Hi @ClubMan - how are you? I had not heard of the HEA Free fees initiative. I followed your link, but could not see where the heck to apply. Is it something that happened automatically when you applied for SUSI?
 
Bookaduck said:
I had not heard of the HEA Free fees initiative. I followed your link, but could not see where the heck to apply.
Click to expand...
You don't need to apply. The student gets it automatically if eligible (and most are)...

Third-level student fees and charges

Information on the Free Fees Iniative. Explains who doesn't have to pay third-level fees.
www.citizensinformation.ie www.citizensinformation.ie
Most undergraduate students attending publicly funded third-level courses do not have to pay tuition fees.
...

How do I apply for free fees?​

You don’t need to apply for the Free Fees Initiative. You are assessed for free fees based on the information you give when you apply for college (see ‘Free fees’ above).
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top