SUSI Grant 2026/27: Rates, Thresholds and Deadline

SUSI Grant Rates for 2026/27

According to SUSI, a Band 1 student whose college is 30km or more from home gets €4,722 in maintenance for 2026/27, up €430 (10%) on the annual rate SUSI paid at the start of 2025/26, after Budget 2026. Maintenance is paid into your bank account in 9 instalments, 1 a month from September to May; fee grants go straight to your college. Here are the undergraduate thresholds and rates for a household with fewer than 4 dependent children.

SUSI full-time undergraduate income thresholds and grant award rates, academic year 2026/27, read 29 October 2026. PLC and postgraduate students use the same maintenance rates.

Case in point: take a dependent student in Athlone whose parents had €45,000 of reckonable income in 2025, with 2 other children at home and a sibling already at college full time. The sibling lifts the Band 1 limit from €47,010 to €51,960, so the student qualifies for full Band 1 maintenance and the full Student Contribution. Studying in Galway (more than 30km away) pays €4,722 a year; commuting to TUS Athlone pays €1,774. This is a worked example using SUSI's published 2026/27 thresholds, not a real applicant, and it assumes the household income is all reckonable.

Bigger families get higher thresholds. With 4 to 7 dependent children, the Band 1 limit is €51,520 and the €500 grant limit is €131,520; with 8 or more, they're €55,850 and €142,570. Every other household member in a full-time (or approved part-time) course adds €4,950 to most thresholds and €4,785 to Bands 2 to 4.

The Special Rate needs a qualifying payment. You must meet the Special Rate threshold and, on 31 December 2025, your household's income must have included a long-term Department of Social Protection payment from SUSI's list, such as One-Parent Family Payment, Disability Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Working Family Payment, Jobseeker's Allowance for 65 consecutive weeks, or (new for 2026/27) Disablement Benefit and Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit. Back to Education Allowance and Community Employment also count, though BTEA recipients can't get a maintenance grant.

What fee grants pay. If you and your course are covered by the Free Fees Initiative, SUSI pays all or part of the Student Contribution. If you're covered but your course isn't, SUSI pays tuition up to €6,270. If your course is covered but you aren't, SUSI pays up to the full EU fee rate. The Student Contribution itself is €2,500 for 2026/27 on the University of Galway's fees page (opens in a new tab), after Budget 2026 cut it by €500. A Dáil answer on 22 September 2026 says households under €120,000 pay no more than €2,000 of it in 2026/27.

Postgraduate SUSI grants

SUSI's postgraduate page lists 3 types of help for 2026/27:

The €4,500 fee contribution went up by €500 under Budget 2026. Funding covers postgraduate courses in Ireland and at 4 approved institutions in Northern Ireland. Most taught master's degrees cost more than €4,500, so plan for the gap.

Budget 2027: What's Announced and What's In Force

Budget 2027 was announced on 6 October 2026. According to the Department of Further and Higher Education's press release of 7 October, it's a €34 million student support package with a 4.5% rise in maintenance grants. None of the SUSI changes below were on SUSI's rate tables when Grantsights checked them on 29 October 2026, so treat them as announced, not yet in force.

Department of Further and Higher Education press release, 7 October 2026 (Internet Archive copy), and Dáil written answer 855 of 15 October 2026.

What the 4.5% is worth. SUSI hasn't published the new figures, so these are Grantsights estimates from the 2026/27 rates: about €212 a year more for Band 1 non-adjacent (€4,722), about €357 more for the Special Rate non-adjacent (€7,936) and about €80 more for Band 1 adjacent (€1,774). If it follows the pattern SUSI used in January 2026, when a pro-rata increase was paid across the January to May instalments, you'd get roughly 5 ninths of those amounts in 2026/27. The full new rates should apply from September 2027.

Where sources differ on the €150 cut. The University of Galway's fees page still lists a €2,500 Student Contribution for 2026/27, while the Minister's 15 October 2026 answer says the €150 cut applies "in the current academic year". The Dáil answer is newer. Ask your college's fees office how it'll apply the cut to your second instalment.

What Budget 2027 didn't do. The Department's answer of 15 October 2026 lists no general increase to the Band 1 to Band 4 income thresholds; only the Special Rate threshold rises, plus the new €150,000 limit for multi-student households. If your household was just over a threshold this year, the budget alone won't move you into a band.

How to Apply for a SUSI Grant (and When You'll Hear)

SUSI opened for 2026/27 on 1 April 2026. According to SUSI, about 72% of the applications it had received by 29 October had been awarded: its "SUSI in Numbers" panel showed 110,765 applications received and 80,194 students awarded funding so far for 2026/27 when Grantsights checked on 29 October 2026.

1. Check eligibility first. You must be an Irish, EU, EEA, UK or Swiss national, or hold a qualifying immigration permission; have lived in Ireland, the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland for 3 of the last 5 years; be progressing to a higher level of study on an approved course; and be under the income threshold. SUSI's Eligibility Indicator on its site gives a rough answer.
2. Create your student portal account. SUSI asks for your PPSN, name, date of birth, email and phone number. You don't need Leaving Cert results or an accepted course; give the course you hope to take and update it later.
3. Complete Section F (income) carefully. SUSI assesses 2026/27 applications on gross household income for 1 January to 31 December 2025. It can deduct up to €8,830 of holiday earnings for full-time students, up to €14,000 of Rent a Room income, pension contributions, and non-recurring overtime. Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Fuel Allowance, HAP and many other payments are disregarded.
4. Send documents quickly. SUSI may email a checklist. Delays here are the most common reason for a slow decision.
5. Get your decision. You'll get an award letter or a refusal letter. To be paid you must register with your college, be confirmed by the college to SUSI at least a week before a payment date, and add a SEPA euro bank account in the portal.
6. Renew every year. SUSI emails continuing students to renew. If you change course or college, return after deferring, or take a 1-year add-on degree, you make a new application instead.

Timelines. SUSI doesn't publish a current processing time. The latest official figure Grantsights found is a Dáil written answer of 1 June 2023 (opens in a new tab): in 2022/23, the mean time for initial assessment was within 2 weeks, and within 1 week for returned documents. The 2026/27 higher education payment dates are 10 September, 8 October, 12 November and 10 December 2026, then 14 January, 11 February, 11 March, 8 April and 6 May 2027. SUSI says it's paying weekly on Thursdays until December, and anyone awarded late gets back payments in their first payment.

Grantsights Analysis of SUSI Grant Outcomes by County

According to SUSI's data on the CSO's PxStat service, 81,714 grants were awarded across all levels in 2024/25 from 101,407 application outcomes, down slightly from 83,515 awards in 2023/24. Undergraduates make up most of it: 72,753 awards from 85,074 applications.

Grantsights analysis of CSO table SUS01, SUSI grant outcomes, 2024/25, downloaded 29 October 2026. "Decided" means awarded plus refused. The all-levels row includes applications SUSI couldn't categorise.

The undergraduate refusal rate varies by county. Dublin had the most awards, and Dublin and Meath had the highest refusal rates, both 14.7%.

Grantsights analysis of CSO table SUS10, SUSI undergraduate application outcomes by county, 2024/25. The 9 counties not shown had 790 to 1,565 awards each and refusal rates between 10.7% and 13.1%. 1,367 awards had no county recorded.

Where the money goes matters too. SUSI paid €254.9 million to undergraduates in 2024/25: €149.2 million in maintenance, €100.5 million in Student Contribution and €5.1 million in tuition fees. Grantsights analysis of table SUS09 found 79% of undergraduate maintenance (€117.3 million) went to non-adjacent students, and 49% (€73.7 million) went to Special Rate students.

What this means for you:

• Undergraduates who apply usually get something. About 7 in 8 decided undergraduate applications were awarded in 2024/25. If you're unsure whether you qualify, apply; it costs nothing.
• Postgraduate and PLC applicants face harder odds. Roughly 1 in 3 decided applications was refused at both levels. For postgraduates, the progression rule (you must be moving to a higher level than any qualification you already hold) and the Special Rate's welfare-payment test are the usual stumbling blocks.
• Your best bet is to apply even if you're unsure. The refusal rates above are low enough at undergraduate level that guessing you won't qualify costs more than applying.
• Distance is worth more than band. The 30km line changes Band 1 maintenance by €2,948 a year. Check your Eircode route before you assume you're adjacent.

What SUSI Doesn't Tell You Up Front

SUSI's pages are clear on rates, but these 7 rules catch applicants out, and the honest truth is that several can cost you thousands of euro.

1. Income is last year's, not this year's. A 2026/27 application uses 2025 income. If your household's income has since fallen through job loss, retirement or a business closing, that's grounds for review or appeal under "change in circumstances", but you have to ask.

2. Over-23 doesn't mean independent. A "mature dependent" student who was 23 on 1 January but lives with their parents is assessed on parental income. To be independent you must have lived away from home since the October before you started. Dáil questions in September and October 2026 asked about lone parents living at home being assessed on their parents' income, so this rule still trips people up.

3. The Special Rate depends on 31 December. The qualifying welfare payment must be in your household's income on 31 December of the year before you apply. A payment that started in January doesn't count until next year.

4. Repeating a year costs you. SUSI won't fund a repeat year except in exceptional circumstances, and a previous period of study at the same level reduces your payments. SUSI's own example: 3 months of an earlier level 7 course means 6 payments instead of 9 on a new level 7 course.

5. No bank details, no money. Award letters don't pay you. You must add your bank account in the portal at least a week before a payment date, and re-enter it if you made a new application (reference starting W2627) this year.

6. Overpayments are clawed back. SUSI's important notes say you'll have to repay any grant you weren't entitled to, including fee grants paid to your college. Report changes in income or address promptly.

7. Holiday earnings only cover holidays. The €8,830 deduction applies to Easter, summer and Christmas earnings. A Dáil answer of 8 October 2026 confirms weekend term-time work still counts as income.

SUSI Grant Scams: How to Stay Safe

According to SUSI's Security Zone page, SUSI won't ask for your bank details or PPS number over the phone, won't ask you to update bank details by email, text or social media, and won't ask for all 6 digits of your PIN. Bank details can only be changed by you, inside your online account.

• Expect some genuine contact. SUSI says it may email your registered address, call you about your application and ask data protection questions, and email reminders about updating bank details in the portal. It won't send unsolicited social media messages.
• Don't pay anyone to apply. Applying to SUSI is free and done in your own portal. Treat any paid "grant application service" or "guaranteed SUSI" offer as a red flag.
• Same scams, different grant. Fake grant texts also target home energy grants; our SEAI grants guide lists the SEAI version of these warnings.
• Check before you click. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's phishing guide (opens in a new tab) says to verify any unexpected message using a contact you trust, not one in the message.
• Report it. Send SUSI's support desk a screenshot of any suspicious message and it'll confirm whether it's genuine. If you've shared bank details, contact your bank straight away and report it to the Gardaí, as the CCPC advises.

Other Guides in This Series

• Our Help to Buy guide covers Revenue's deposit refund for first-time buyers of new homes in Ireland.
• Our SEAI grants guide lists every home energy grant amount for Irish households.
• For students in Canada, our Canada Student Grant guide and OSAP grants guide explain the federal and Ontario equivalents.

If you haven't applied yet, do it before 5 November 2026: check your 2025 household income against the bands above, confirm your Eircode distance to campus, and have your PPSN and income documents ready before you start.

Sources Checked

All pages read and files downloaded on 29 October 2026.

• SUSI, Full-time undergraduate income thresholds and grant award rates 2026/27 (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Postgraduate income thresholds and grant award rates (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Income (opens in a new tab), Applicant class (opens in a new tab), Adjacency (opens in a new tab) and Special Rate of grant (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Eligibility criteria (opens in a new tab) and How to apply (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Payments and 2026/27 payment dates (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Review your grant decision (opens in a new tab) and Appeal your grant decision (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Online applications close Thursday, 5 November 2026 (opens in a new tab) and Budget 2026 new student funding measures (opens in a new tab)
• SUSI, Security Zone (opens in a new tab) and About SUSI (opens in a new tab)
• Department of Further and Higher Education, Budget 2027 student support package, 7 October 2026 (opens in a new tab) (read through an Internet Archive copy)
• Dáil Éireann written answers: Budget 2027 and SUSI thresholds, 15 October 2026 (opens in a new tab), holiday earnings, 8 October 2026 (opens in a new tab), SUSI income thresholds, 22 September 2026 (opens in a new tab) and SUSI processing times, 1 June 2023 (opens in a new tab)
• Central Statistics Office PxStat, SUSI tables SUS01 (opens in a new tab), SUS09 (opens in a new tab) and SUS10 (opens in a new tab)
• University of Galway, Student fees FAQs (opens in a new tab)
• Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Phishing (opens in a new tab)