The Student Assistance Fund provides financial assistance for students in higher education who are experiencing financial difficulties whilst attending college.
Students can apply for Student Assistance to help them with either temporary or ongoing financial difficulties. The Student Assistance Fund provides a further source of funding for higher education students in addition to the Student Grant.
Each year, the State allocates a certain amount of Student Assistance funding to all approved higher education colleges based on the size of the college’s full-time student population. Students in need of financial support can then make application in the college for assistance under the Fund. The Student Assistance Fund is not available in further education/PLC colleges.
To find out whether you may be eligible for the Fund you need to be aware of the main conditions of the programme. The information below will assist you in this process. Each section below will guide you through the eligibility requirements of the fund.
The Student Assistance Fund is co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014 – 2020’.
The following higher education colleges operate a Student Assistance Fund for eligible students. Most participating colleges have further information on their website on the operation of the Student Assistance Fund at local level.
Dublin City University
Maynooth University
National University of Ireland, Galway
Trinity College Dublin
University College Cork
University College Dublin
University of Limerick
Athlone Institute of Technology
Cork Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dundalk Institute of Technology
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Galway Mayo Institute of Technology
Institute of Technology Blanchardstown
Institute of Technology Carlow
Institute of Technology Sligo
Institute of Technology Tallaght
Institute of Technology Tralee
Letterkenny Institute of Technology
Limerick Institute of Technology
Waterford Institute of Technology
Church of Ireland College of Education
Marino Institute of Education
Mary Immaculate College
National College of Art and Design
National College of Ireland
St Patrick’s College Maynooth
Royal College of Surgeons Ireland
St Angela’s College
Eligibility
In order to be eligible to apply for student assistance funding a student must be:
Participating in a course in a university, institute of technology or other approved college.
Registered on
- a full-time course, of not less than one year in duration, leading to a higher education award at level 6-10 of the national framework of qualifications
or
- a part-time course leading to a higher education award at level 6-10 of the national framework of qualifications
Student must not be pursuing a second qualification at the same or a lower level.
Eligible Expenses
The Student Assistance Fund typically provides financial assistance to students who are having difficulty covering the following kinds of expenses:
Books
Class materials
Rent
Heating/lighting bills
Food
Travel of an urgent or essential nature
Medical expenses, i.e. doctor or dental visits
Expenses associated with family breakdown
Expenses associated with bereavement
Expenses associated with accidents
Childcare
Compulsory study abroad
(This is not a definitive list)
Students requiring financial assistance to help with tuition fees or registration fees cannot be considered under the Student Assistance Fund.
Application
Currently, each participating institution decides how the Student Assistance Fund will be operated at local level, within the overall guidelines set by the Department of Education and Skills. The application process may vary therefore between participating institutions.
All colleges have an application form which must be completed by students wishing to apply for Student Assistance.
Applicants may be required to attend a meeting with a member of the college staff to discuss the application. Applicants may also be required to provide documentation to verify details of the income and outgoings provided in the application.
In general, due to demand for Student Assistance, participating colleges are not able to approve all applications they receive. Likewise, participating colleges may not be able to award all the funding being sought by successful applicants. The Department of Education and Skills requires colleges to target the Student Assistance Fund at those students most in need of financial support. This may mean, for example, that priority is given to applicants who are in receipt of a maintenance grant, this being an indicator of limited means. In 2017, additional funding has been allocated to SAF for the support of part-time students who are lone parents or members of the other access target groups.
Further Information
Student services or Access staff in participating institutions can provide further information on the fund. Lastly, the list of participating colleges provided earlier in this section has web links to further information on institutions’ websites.
http://hea.ie/funding-governance-performance/funding/student-finance/student-assistance-fund/