Postgraduate grants cut will cost a fortune in welfare

I WRITE in relation to recent changes made to the eligibility criteria for Higher Education Authority (HEA) grants and fees for students wishing to take postgraduate courses in Irish universities.

Postgraduate grants cut will cost a fortune in welfare

I am a student wishing to partake in a masters of social work programme in UCC. Until June of this year I was eligible for payment of tuition fees and a maintenance grant that would have enabled me to participate in this course. But recent changes imposed by the HEA now preclude me from attending this course as I have failed to meet the relevant application criteria on the grounds that I have been absent from university for one year.

The HEA will no longer pay fees and grants to those absent from third-level full-time education for no less than three consecutive years. Therefore I am no longer entitled to tuition fees, which total €14,000, or a maintenance grant, despite the fact that I received a grant for my previous four years of college.

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