SUSI, or Student Universal Support Ireland, is the country’s national awarding authority for further and higher education grants, offering funding to eligible students at PLC, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels. Established in 2012 as a business unit of City of Dublin ETB, SUSI administers funding under the Student Support Act 2011, and qualifying comes down to four core criteria: nationality and residency, course approval, academic progression, and household income.
Meeting the Nationality and Residency Requirement
You must be an Irish, EU, EEA, UK, or Swiss national, or hold specific leave to remain in the State as granted by the Department of Justice. Beyond nationality, you must also be ordinarily resident in Ireland, the EU, EEA, UK, or Switzerland for three of the last five years before starting your course. This residency requirement trips up a fair number of applicants who meet the nationality criteria but haven’t lived in a qualifying country long enough, so it’s worth checking your own timeline carefully before applying.
Attending an Approved Course at an Approved Institution
Your course must be on the official list of approved courses, covering most full-time PLC, undergraduate, and postgraduate programmes at recognised Irish institutions. In some cases, students studying in the UK or elsewhere in the EU can also qualify, though this depends on the specific arrangement between institutions. It’s worth verifying your specific course directly through the SUSI website rather than assuming eligibility, since not every program at every institution automatically qualifies.
Progressing in Your Education
You must be progressing in your education and increasing your National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) level as you move through your studies. Generally, students cannot receive the grant if they’re repeating a year or studying at the same or a lower qualification level than one they’ve already completed. That said, exceptions exist for genuine hardship—if a medical or family situation impaired your ability to sit exams, submit assignments, or attend lectures, you may still be able to apply under SUSI’s exceptional circumstances provisions.
Falling Within the Income Thresholds
Your reckonable income, calculated for grant purposes, must fall under specific thresholds that vary depending on your course level and the number of dependent children in your household. For the 2026/27 academic year, applications are assessed on gross household income from the full 2025 calendar year. Reckonable income covers gross income from all sources, though certain social welfare and financial support payments are excluded from the calculation — for instance, Disablement Benefit paid to the applicant and Constant Attendance Allowance are no longer counted toward household reckonable income under recent updates to the scheme.
If you’re financially dependent on your parents, their income is assessed alongside your own, meaning you’ll need to provide details of your parents’ or legal guardians’ income as part of your application. If your family’s circumstances have changed since January 1, 2026, that change can also be taken into account during assessment — it’s worth reviewing what qualifies as a “change in circumstances” directly on the SUSI website.
Postgraduate Students Face Different Thresholds
If you’re applying for postgraduate funding specifically, be aware that the income thresholds differ from undergraduate levels, so it’s worth checking the postgraduate-specific income thresholds and grant award rates before submitting your PAC application.
Recent Changes Worth Knowing About
For the 2026/27 academic year, the government has expanded student financial supports further. Eligible undergraduate students from households earning up to €120,000 will pay no more than €2,000 toward the student contribution charge from 2026/27 onward, reflecting a broader push to keep college affordable across a wider range of household incomes than in previous years.
Checking Your Eligibility Before Applying
Rather than guessing at your eligibility, SUSI provides an online Eligibility Indicator tool that asks a series of questions to give you a quick estimate of whether you’re likely to qualify before you commit to the full application process. This is a genuinely useful first step, since it can save time and help you gather the right documentation before starting the formal online application at susi.ie.
Applying Every Year
It’s worth noting that SUSI grants aren’t automatically renewed — all students progressing in their course must reapply for SUSI each academic year to continue receiving funding, so building this into your annual planning matters just as much as the initial application.
Join The Discussion
Are you navigating a SUSI application for the first time, or renewing for another year of study? What part of the eligibility process has been trickiest to work through — the residency requirement, the income assessment, or confirming your course qualifies? Share your questions or experiences with the process below.
