Returning to college? Here are funding options to help cover the costs of your postgrad or MBA

Education can often be a costly endeavour. For those in post-secondary school, there are college fees, living expenses and accommodation expenses, all of which costs often obscene amounts.

For those pursuing a postgraduate course or MBA, however, these sums are often eye-watering. But there are routes and schemes available to individuals who would like to obtain an MBA but for whom finances could be a potential barrier.

Susi

One of the State’s best-known financial support schemes is the Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) programme.

There are eligibility criteria for the system, with some students qualifying for the flat-rate fee contribution of €3,500, while others who qualify for the special rate for disadvantaged students, they could have their tuition fees paid and essential field trips, up to a total of €6,270.

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Prospective students can check their eligibility on the Susi website.

Tax relief

Postgraduate students who are in employment can also benefit from tax relief. The maximum value that can be awarded through the scheme is €7,000 per person, per course, per academic year.

It is not means tested, meaning any Irish postgraduate student can apply.

Springboard

A relatively new entrant in the higher education market, Springboard provides free higher education courses for people who are unemployed or self-employed and would like to return to the workplace.

Employed individuals can also apply for a Springboard course, but they must pay a 10 per cent contribution towards fees. There is a range of part-time courses for certificates to master’s degree levels, with most courses being part-time and one year in duration.

Trinity College

Although there are nationwide supports available, there are also university-specific financial aids.

Trinity, for example, offers scholarships and specific-funded projects for research across all disciplines, normally covering tuition fees and providing a stipend.

Trinity Business School offers scholarships of up to €10,000 per student undertaking a master’s programme. The social impact scholarships (also valued at €10,000) are available for candidates who have experience at an NGO, charity or social organisation.

There are also a variety of MBA scholarships available awarded on a first come, first served basis. Candidates who have excelled in their professional or personal achievements can be awarded up to €10,000, though amounts may vary.

Dublin City University

DCU operates a 10 per cent reduced master’s programme fees scheme for its alumni, and it applies to both full-time and part-time programmes. Students do not have to apply for the scheme and the university will contact eligible individuals.

There are scholarships available for members of the Gaelic Players’ Association. The DCU faculty of engineering and computing has one scholarship available under this scheme, valued at €3,000. DCU business school also offers two scholarships for full-time master’s programmes or the executive MBA, which covers the full fees of the selected programme. dcu.ie/postgrad-funding

Technological University Dublin

TU Dublin graduates, including those of its previous institutes (DIT, IT Tallaght and IT Blanchardstown), can avail of a 10 per cent discount on all graduate business school courses, except those funded by external bodies.

Supported by The Maria Wallace Foundation, the university has announced a scholarship for the MSc in Fashion Buying and Management course, covering fees and an allowance for living expenses.

The successful candidate for the scholarship must be someone with “exceptional potential to succeed” but would only be in a financial position to complete the MSc programme with the support of the scholarship.

University of Galway

There are several postgraduate scholarships available at the university, including its sanctuary scholarship programme, which is open to asylum seekers, refugees, vulnerable immigrant groups and Irish Travellers.

The Hardiman PhD Scholarships are available for those pursuing research, and are fully funded for four years, with a stipend of €18,500 per year plus fees.

The taught master’s scholarship scheme awards €1,500 to any person with a first-class honours degree who has been accepted on a full-time postgraduate programme at the university.

Among the college’s MBA offerings are the McGinty Scholarships, which are available each year to support two women – one physician and one allied healthcare professional in the MBA programme.

University College Cork

UCC offers an array of scholarships across various departments, including the Amneal pharmaceutical scholarship for those applying for the MSc research in pharmaceutics, which is valued at €23,700.

The O’Connor scholarship is a €10,000 award available for one postgraduate student per year, in any discipline. However, to be eligible the individual must have been born in Ireland and must have a parent whose surname was O’Connor at birth.

Postgraduate students undertaking research programmes may be supported by research grants held by individual supervisors. Inquiries should be directed to individual supervisors in the first instance, according to the college.

University of Limerick

Each faculty has a selection of scholarships and fee awards, with varying closing dates and requirements.

The faculty of science and engineering is offering 10 taught postgraduate fee waiver scholarships to the value of €2,000 for the 2023/2024 academic year.

Only EU applicants who have applied online for entry into a full-time taught postgraduate programme by June 16th, 2023, will be considered.

A series of partial scholarships through the Limerick and Shannon Chambers of Commerce and 30 per cent Club are available for UL’s executive MBA programme.

Southeast Technological University

SETU Waterford provides five annual scholarships through their business school with scholarships available for the Master of Business Studies, the MSc in Digital Marketing and the Executive MBA programme as well as Master’s by Research (considered on a case-by-case basis).

Two annual scholarships have also been agreed with the Department of Sport and Exercise Science. The Carlow campus also provides two annual postgraduate scholarships.

Atlantic Technological University

ATU offers academic, sports and cultural scholarships across its campuses in Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal.

ATU Donegal’s partnership with the Gaelic Players’ Association provides for up to four fully-funded, postgraduate places for male and female members of the GPA who wish to study there.

The value of each scholarship is up to €5,750 for one year only and will be delivered through a full or partial fee waiver where necessary.

The college also offers the 1916 bursary, which is to encourage participation and success by students who are most socio-economically disadvantaged and who are from groups most underrepresented in higher education.

Maynooth University

Maynooth University provides scholarships of €2,000 to support full-time taught master’s study and are open to EU and non-EU citizens as well as to Maynooth and non-Maynooth graduates.

A 2.1 final honours undergraduate degree result or equivalent is the minimum requirement to apply, with a closing date of June 30th, 2024.

The Department of Anthropology at Maynooth University offers a bursary to the value of €2,000 to its master’s programme for a student who is specifically interested in the area of material culture.

Irish Research Council

The Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme is an established national initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and managed by the council.

The value of the scholarship will be up to a maximum of €28,000 annually in any approved year and will consist of: a stipend of €19,000 per year; a contribution to fees up to a maximum of €5,750 per year; and eligible direct research expenses of €3,250 per year.

North/South postgraduate scholarships

The aim of the Universities Ireland North/South scholarship scheme is to encourage outstanding students from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to cross the Border to undertake postgraduate study and experience life in the other Irish jurisdiction.

This year, Universities Ireland will offer four scholarships, each worth €15,000. The history bursaries support students undertaking postgraduate study on a topic relating to the 1912-1923 period in Ireland, the decade of the first World War and the division of the island into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.

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