APPLICATION DEADLINE: 4PM, FRIDAY 16TH, 2018
The 1916 Bursary Fund is a targeted funding scheme established by the Department of Education and Skills to support implementation of the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019. The Access Office in Maynooth University combined with Dublin City University, Athlone Institute of Technology and Dundalk Institute of Technology were successful in being allocated 40 bursaries each year for the next three years from the Fund. 10 of these bursaries are for Maynooth University students in 2017/18.
The 1916 Bursary is a grant to students for €5,000 per year for each year of study of their undergraduate programme. For 2017/18 the fund is open to current first year students only.
From 2018/19 onwards, the fund will only be available to incoming students. It is open to full and part time undergraduate students in any discipline. Receipt of the Bursary will not affect SUSI grants or social welfare payments, but cannot be combined with other scholarships. Repeat students are eligible but only if they had to leave their studies due to a “significant life event” (i.e. illness, pregnancy, or death in immediate family).
Students must be from one of the following target groups:
*First time mature student entrants
*Students with a disability
*Irish Travellers
*Further education award holders
*Lone parents (at least 20% of the bursaries must be targeted at lone parents).
*Ethnic minorities (including programme refugees).
Students must be socio-economically disadvantaged regardless of the target group ((i.e. gross family income less than €47k p.a.).Due to short time line, the recommended strategy for departments is to target specific students who may be eligible. These should be encouraged to contact the Student Budgeting Advisor at student.budget@mu.ie for more information.
There is an online application on the Access page: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/access-office/1916-Bursary-Fund. Students are encouraged to gather as much supporting material as possible i.e. reports from social workers, letters from department for programme refugees, letters of support from associations or groups supporting minorities, such as Pavee Point for Travellers. Essentially, the more complicated the layers of disadvantage, the greater the possibility of receiving funding, with lone parents particularly targeted.
Students who are not successful or are not eligible, may be eligible for other supports such as the Student Assistance Fund (SAF), and Ruth Killeen, the Student Budgeting Advisor can advise on that. She can be contacted at student.budgeting@mu.ie or at www.maynoothuniversity.ie/money-matters.