Depending on the level of a student’s reckonable income, a postgraduate fee contribution of €4,500 or a postgraduate fee grant, up to a maximum of €6,270, towards the cost of fees plus a maintenance grant is available to Postgraduate students pursuing an approved course.
To receive the Postgraduate fee grant plus a maintenance grant, students must meet the criteria for the Special Rate of grant.
Tuition students and students in receipt of Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) are not eligible for a maintenance grant.
Postgraduate students who are eligible for the postgraduate fee contribution of €4,500 are not eligible to receive the maintenance grant.
Maintenance grants are paid at adjacent and non-adjacent rates. The adjacent rate is paid when a student’s college is less than 30km from their normal residence. The non-adjacent rate is paid when a student’s college is 30km or more from their normal residence.
The total amount of the grant will depend on the level of a student’s reckonable income.
The table below outlines the income thresholds in bold and the associated maintenance grant rates for postgraduate students.
Income thresholds may increase based on Dependent Children and/or Relevant Persons in further and higher education.
*To be eligible for the Special Rate of maintenance grant, your:
• reckonable income must not exceed €24,500; and
• the reckonable income must include one of the long-term Department of Social Protection eligible payments as prescribed in the Student Grant Scheme for the relevant year or its equivalence from an EU Member State.
