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The Student Assistance Fund provides financial assistance for full-time higher education students 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 schemes such as the Maintenance Grant and the Millennium Partnership Fund.

Each year, the State allocates a certain amount of Student Assistance funding to all publicly funded 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 work out whether you may be eligible for the Fund you need to be aware of the main conditions of the programme. The 6-step guide, which you can access from the left-hand side of this page, will assist you in this process. Each step has a button that will guide you through the eligibility requirements of the fund.

The Student Assistance Fund is funded by the Irish Government and part-funded by the European Social Fund under the Human Capital Investment Operational Programme 2007-2013.