Students and prospective students can now apply for a grant for next year. Photo: Brooke Cagle

SUSI grant opens for the next academic year

Ellen O’Brien

Students hoping to attend college next year can now begin applying for grant applications for the 2024/25 academic year.

The national grant awarding authority, SUSI is now open and is advising students to apply for the grants as soon as possible due to the high amount of expected applications over the coming months. They have received over 10,000 applications since the opening of the renewal applications on 7 March. SUSI is aiming to have as many applications as possible processed before the beginning of the next academic year.

They have advised that those who submit before the priority processing dates will receive priority assessment. The priority date for renewal applications is 6 June and 11 July for new applicants. To apply, students do not need to have their Leaving Cert results or to have accepted a course. They can supply the details of the course that they hope to study and update it at a later date .

Eleanor Murphy SUSI’s Communications and Customer Service Manger outlined how students can find out the eligibility criteria. “If you’re planning on attending further or higher education in the next academic year, go to www.susi.ie and check out our Eligibility Indicator. This is a quick and easy way to see if you might be eligible for funding.”

She continued: “As announced in Budget 2024, maintenance grants have been reintroduced for eligible postgraduate students and maintenance grant rates have increased for all eligible PLC, undergraduate and postgraduate students.”

The Band 4 Maintenance Grant has increased to €50,840 and the 100% student contribution grant has increased to €55,924. The amount a student can earn outside of term time has also increased to €7,925.

SUSI would also like to remind students that €500 student contribution fee grant introduced last year is still available for eligible undergraduate students in households earning between €62,000 and €100,00.

Students can find out more information on how to apply and the different threshold amounts for the grants on SUSI’s website (www.susi.ie). They can also contact SUSI’s support desk by phone, email and on Twitter or Facebook.