Who is the 1916 Bursary for?
The 1916 Bursary is for first time entrants to Higher Education who are from one or more of the following priority groups:
- Socio-economically disadvantaged communities
- Socio-economic groups that have low participation rates in higher education
- Students with a disability
- Students who are carers
- QQI or Further Education award holders
- Lone and/or teen parents in receipt of a long-term means-tested social welfare payment
- Members of the Irish Traveller Community
- Members of the Roma Community
- First time, mature student entrants and 2nd chance mature students
- Persons from ethnic minorities who are lawfully present in the State
What are the criteria?
Financial + Priority Group + College Entry = Eligible for consideration.
To see if you may be eligible to apply for a 1916 Bursary, please see the Criteria Quick Check page.
What are the College Entry criteria?
Applicants for the 1916 Bursary must:
- Be a new entrant pursuing an undergraduate course and progressing to higher education for the first time
- Have been a resident in the Irish State for three of the past five years
- Be studying an approved full-time or part-time undergraduate course
What are the Financial Criteria?
Applicants must show that their household income meets the criteria for the SUSI Special Rate of Maintenance Grant in the year ending 31 December 2023. This financial criteria is required for you to be considered eligible for a 1916 Bursary. The SUSI Special Rate of Maintenance Grant has 3 thresholds based on how many dependent children are in the household. Less than 4 = €26,200; 4 to 7 = €28,715; 8 or more = €31,128. The income threshold increases by €4,950 per additional person in college.
You can show evidence of this by either;
Allowing SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to confirm that you were awarded the Special Rate of Maintenance grant
or
Providing evidence of your household income in 2023 that must include a Department of Social Protection (DSP) long term means-tested social welfare payment. If you have not applied to SUSI you are required to submit relevant financial documentation with your application.
If you wish to allow SUSI to confirm your eligibility, you will need to provide your SUSI reference number. This reference number begins with a ‘W’ and is provided to you by SUSI when you start your SUSI application. If you do not have a ‘W’ reference number you can provide your PPS Number:
You will be asked to confirm your consent to the sharing of your personal data with SUSI. If you do not provide your consent to the sharing of personal data with SUSI, you must upload relevant supporting financial documentation in order for your application to be assessed.
If you have not applied to SUSI or if your application to SUSI was refused, you can provide evidence of your income in 2023 by one or more of the documents in the table below. You will be asked to confirm if you are a; student dependent, mature student dependent or independent mature student; and the number of dependent children in the household and the number of other relevant persons in further or higher education in the household.
For any paper documents, you will need to create scanned electronic copies of them to upload online. Please note, you can only upload one digital file per question in the online application. If you have two or more documents to upload per question you need to create a single digital file first.
You are required to submit the relevant financial document(s) from the list below. The documents required are determined by Applicant Type and the Income Source.
Applicant Type | Description | Income to be Assessed | |
Dependent | Under 23 on 1st January 2024 |
| |
Mature dependent students | Over 23 on 1st January 2024 and residing with your parent(s)/ legal guardian(s) |
| |
Independent mature student | Over 23 on 1st January year of entry and residing independently from October 2023 |
| |
Income Source | Documentation Required | Additional Information |
PAYE Income | Statement of Liability (formally called End of year statement – P21) for the year ended 31 December 2023 | A Status of Liability (formerly called End of year statement – P21) for 2023 can be requested from the relevant person(s) revenue account at www.revenue.ie A Status of Liability/End of year statement is a 2-sided document, please include a pdf copy of both the front and back page |
Social Welfare Income | A social welfare statement from the Department of Social Protection showing the total amounts received for the year ended 31 December 2023 | You can request a DSP statement for 2023 through mywelfare.ie or from your local community welfare office/Intreo Office |
Self-Employed and Farmers | A copy of Notice of Assessment/Self-Assessment Letter Chapter 4 or 5 for the year ended 31 December 2023 | You can request a Notice of Assessment / Self-Assessment for 2023 from the relevant person’s account at www.revenue.ie |
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS/ETB Payments) | A letter/statement from the VTOS or ETB office outlining what payments you received in total for 2022 for the year ended 31 December 2023 | The letter must be on headed paper, signed and dated by an official in the ETB or PLC you attended in 2023 |
TUS/CE/RSS Schemes | Statement of Liability (formally called End of year statement – P21) for the year ended 31 December 2023 | A Status of Liability for 2023 can be requested from the relevant person(s) revenue account at www.revenue.ie A Status of Liability/End of year statement is a 2-sided document, please include a pdf copy of both the front and back page |
Non-Irish Income/Welfare Payments | Official documentation from the country to show the total income received for the year ended 31 December 2023 |
|
Note: If there is household income from more than one source, documentation for each source must be provided
What is the SUSI special rate?
There is a special rate of grant available for eligible students. The conditions you need to meet to qualify for this rate of grant are as follows:
- You must qualify for the ordinary rate of grant
-
Your total reckonable household income must not exceed the following thresholds based on how many dependent children are in the household: Less than 4 = €25,000. 4 to 7 = €27,400. 8 or more = €29,702. The income threshold increases by €4,950 per additional person in college.
-
On 31st December of the previous year to your application, all applicants must demonstrate that they would qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant under the Student Grant Scheme (SUSI) and/or are in receipt of a Department of Social Protection (DSP) long-term means-tested social welfare payment.
Students on Back to Education Allowance or other DSP social welfare payments can hold a 1916 Bursary without it having any impact on their Back to Education Allowance entitlement or other social welfare payment.
See full details on the Financial Criteria for the 1916 Bursary in the Applicant Guidelines.
What are the Priority Groups?
Eligible 1916 Bursary applicants must be from one or more of the following priority groups:
- Students from communities, groups or areas that are socio-economically disadvantaged or that have low levels of participation in higher education, including those who have experienced homelessness, the care system, survivors of domestic violence, and those who have experience of the criminal justice system
- Students who qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant under the Student Grant Scheme (SUSI) and/or are in receipt of a Department of Social Protection (DSP) payment are also considered to be socio-economically disadvantaged.
- Socio-economically disadvantaged mature students (23 or older on 1 January of their year of entry to higher education – and having never previously accessed higher education);
-
Second-chance socio-economically disadvantaged mature students. Such students may be considered for a bursary where they have:
-previously attended but not completed a course
-had a three-year break in studies since leaving the course, and
-are returning to attend an approved course. - Students with a disability
- Members of the Irish Traveller community
- Members of the Roma community
- QQI or Further Education and training award holders progressing to higher education
- Students who are carers (confirmed by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) as holding a long-term means-tested carer’s allowance)
- Lone parents or teen parents (confirmed by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) as holding a long-term means-tested social welfare payment) – at least 20% of Tier 1 bursaries will be targeted at lone parents
- Students who are migrants, refugees or who are from ethnic minorities who are lawfully present in the State
Who administers the 1916 Bursary?
All the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are awarding the Bursaries as regional clusters.
| Regional Cluster | Higher Education Institutions | No. of Bursaries |
|---|---|---|
| Leinster Pillar 1 | University College Dublin; National College of Art and Design; Marino Institute of Education; Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology; Trinity College Dublin; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. | Tier 1- 63 Tier 2 - 31 |
| MEND | Maynooth University; Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Midlands Campus; Dublin City University; and Dundalk Institute of Technology. | Tier 1- 71 Tier 2 - 36 |
| Mid West | University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Midwest Campus. | Tier 1- 49 Tier 2 - 25 |
| SOAR | University College Cork, Munster Technological University, South East Technological University. | Tier 1- 94 Tier 2 - 47 |
| TU Dublin | Technological University of Dublin | Tier 1 - 51 Tier 2 - 25 |
| West North-West | University of Galway, Atlantic Technological University | Tier 1 - 72 Tier 2 - 36 |
Additional Information
For more information, visit the following links:
For more information, contact the Access Office in one of the participating colleges
What is the 1916 Bursary?
The 1916 Bursary is a financial award to encourage the participation and success of students from sections of society that are significantly under-represented in higher education.
Can I apply?
To be eligible for a 1916 Bursary, all applicants must meet, Financial, Priority Group and College Entry eligibility criteria.