Mature students should start on grant applications

With CAO applications submitted since the start of the month, Leaving Cert students are turning their focus to their upcoming exams and getting the points they need for the courses of their choice. The thousands of mature students who also applied may not have exams to sit, but they can still get to work preparing for college life, particularly when it comes to finances.

The Student Universal Support Ireland [SUSI] application process has not yet opened for the 2019/20 academic year, but some mature students applicants will have significant paperwork to gather, so now is the time to start gathering everything required. Those returning to education are entitled to apply for assistance, just as school leavers are, but must establish whether they are a dependent or independent applicant.

“Knowing what class of applicant you are is very important in deciding if you may be eligible for a grant, if or how you should apply, and whose income is taken into account when assessing your application for funding,” the SUSI helpdesk explains.

Basically, if you can establish yourself as an independent student applicant, you will be assessed under your own income in determining your eligibility and your parents’ income will not form part of the application. If, on the other hand, you are determined to be a dependent student, your own income (if applicable) and the income of your parents or legal guardians will be used when assessing you for grant funding.

The first criteria is age; in general you must have been over 23 on January 1 this year to be classed as an independent student. There are limited exceptions, but the age rule will apply in the vast majority of cases.

Even when over 23, you must still provide documentary evidence that you have been living independently from your parents, otherwise you will be considered a mature dependent student and their income will still be taken into account.

You must have been living independently from October in the year prior to your return to education, so 2018 if you are hoping to return to college this autumn. In order to prove this you need documentation proving you were living independently in 2018 (which must be dated no later than October) plus evidence that you continue to live independently this year.

Documentation that will be accepted are a letter confirming that your address is registered with the Residential Tenancies Board, a local authority lease agreement or a letter confirming your rental, a letter on headed paper from a rental agency confirming your tenancy, a letter confirming the receipt and period of rent allowance, mortgage interest supplement or housing assistance payment (HAP), a utility bill in your own name (not including mobile telephone bills), or official documentation posted to you at your address and relating to your residence there.

The exceptions which allow students under 23 to be classed as independent include, in cases of estrangement, fostering, unaccompanied refugees and where parents are no longer living. You can find out more about what applies in each situation at susi.ie.

Some mature students may also be eligible for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), aimed at people in receipt of certain social welfare payments. In order to qualify for the BTEA for a third-level course, you must be in receipt of a payment for at least nine months.

People can potentially qualify for both, but it is not permitted to get BTEA and the maintenance grant together. You can still submit apply to SUSI to get your Student Contribution covered. In the case of some social welfare payments, including One-Parent Family Payment, you can choose to stay on your current social welfare payment and apply for a student grant or transfer to the BTEA. As there are implications — for example, other payments such as rent supplement can be affected — you are strongly advised to talk through options with your Citizens Information or social welfare office.

The second part of my feature on financial wedding planning will appear next week.