Third-level student fees and charges (2024)

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Introduction

Most undergraduate students attending publicly funded third-level courses donot have to pay tuition fees. Under the terms of the Free FeesInitiative, the Department of Further and Higher Education pays the fees tothe colleges instead.

A separate annual charge is payable to colleges for the costs of studentservices and examinations – see ‘Student contribution’ below.

Charges for Post-Leaving Certificate courses (PLCs) operate under differentrules - see ourdocument on PLCs.

Third-level fees

Free fees

To qualify for free fees, you must meet criteria based on:

• Residence and
• Nationality and immigration status and
• Course requirements

Residence

You must have been living in an EEA member state or Switzerland or UnitedKingdom (UK) for at least 3 of the 5 years before starting yourcourse. The members of the EEA (the European Economic Area) are themember states of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

Nationality and immigration

You must also meet one of the following 6 criteria asregards nationality and immigration status in Ireland:

You must:

1. Be a citizen of an EEA member state (see above) or Switzerland or UK or
2. Have official refugee status or
3. Be a family member of a refugee and have been granted permission to live in the State or
4. Be a family member of an EU national and have permission to live in the State, with a stamp “4EUFAM” on your residence card or
5. Have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State or
6. Have been granted permission to remain in the State by the Minister for Justice and Equality, following a determination by the Minister not to make a deportation order under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999.

Course requirements

You must also meet all of the following 3 courserequirements:

1. You must be undertaking a full-time undergraduate course of at least 2 years' duration (or certain shorter courses in institutes of technology).
2. You must be a first-time full-time undergraduate. However, students who already hold a Level 6 or a Level 7 qualification and are progressing to a Level 8 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications may possibly be deemed eligible for free fees - you should check with the college providing the level 8 course. Also, you may be eligible for Free Fees, if you attend a course but did not complete it and are returning following a break of at least 5 years to pursue an approved course at the same level.
3. In general, you must not be repeating the year because of failing your exams or changing course. This requirement may be waived if you repeat a year due to certified serious illness.

The undergraduate courses for which the free fees arrangements applyare courses in:

• Universities
• Institutes of technology
• Publicly funded colleges of education
• National College of Ireland
• A number of religious education institutions

You cannot get free fees for courses in private colleges, whether they haveQuality and Qualifications Ireland(QQI) approval or not. The fact that a course is listed by the Central Applications Office(CAO) is not enough to make it a free fees course.

You can get detailed information about assistance with tuition fees on studentfinance.ie.

EU fees

If you do not qualify for free fees you may still be eligible for EU feerates. EU fee rates are set by each individual third-level educationalinstitution. You should contact the one you are interested in to find out aboutthe EU fee rate and whether you qualify.

Some examples of when people might qualify for an EU fee rate are asfollows:

• You originally qualified for free fees and are now repeating a year that you failed.
• You do not fulfil any of the 6 nationality and immigration status criteria listed above but have been tax resident for a number of years in an EEA member state or Switzerland. (However, as the third-level institutions are autonomous bodies, this is at the discretion of the institution concerned.)

Since September 2014, an Irish, EU, EEA or Swiss studentwho has spent at least five years in primary school or second level school inIreland can avail of EU fee rates.

If you do not qualify for EU fees you can be charged non-EU fees. Eachthird-level educational institution sets its own fee rates. You should contactthe ones you are interested in to find out more about their fees - see 'Whereto apply' below.

Postgraduate fees

In general, you will have to pay fees for a postgraduate course. However,you may get financial assistanceunder the Student Grant Scheme.

Postgraduates under the GraduateSkills Conversion Programme, courses are free, full-time and intensive.

Student contribution

Most colleges charge an annual student contribution, formerly called thestudent services charge. It is also known as a registration fee and it coversstudent services and examinations. The amount of the contribution varies fromone institution to another.

The maximum rate of the student contribution for the academic year 2023-2024is €3,000.

The studentcontribution 2022-2023 was €2,000.

If you are getting Backto Education Allowance (BTEA) you may qualify for exemption from thestudent contribution. More information about the BTEA and the studentcontribution can be found in our document about socialwelfare payments and the student grant.

Student grants

Student grants provide financial support to eligible students. There are 2elements to the student grant - a maintenance grant and a fee grant. Amaintenance grant is a contribution towards your living costs. A fee grant cancover:

• All or part of your tuition fees

• All or part of the student contribution

• Costs of essential field trips

If you have qualified for a maintenance grant, you will generally qualifyfor a fee grant.

If you do not qualify for a maintenance grant, but your family’sreckonable income is below certain limits, you may qualify for a partial feegrant. This means that you will either be exempt from 50% of the studentcontribution, or exempt from 50% of any tuition fees and all of the studentcontribution.

The Student Grant Scheme is described in our document on Grantsfor students in further and higher education.

Tax relief

You may be able to claim tax relief on tuition fees that you have paid.Families who pay student contributions for more than one student in a year canalso claim tax relief on the second and subsequent contributions. Read more inour document on tax relieffor third-level fees.

How to apply

Where to apply

For information about fees contact the third-level educationalinstitution of your choice.