Foreign (Irish) college question?

Question

I am an Irish citizen via my parents being born there. I'm a 16-year-old (Mostly) American high school junior (by mostly I mean I lived in Ireland for 2 years). I want to move back to Ireland, and my relatives have told me college is free if you're an Irish resident. It woudn't really be fair though if I had to pay the same price as some random yank who applied for Irish citizenship and went to college over there. Do I get any sort of discount at all?

Answer 1

You might have difficulty as you have to apply to the CAO central applications office for a college place. The SATs might not translate easily into points which are gained here through the leaving cert. In order to get a grant or free fees you have to apply to the county councill that you are resident in, you may be an irish citizen but your current status does not recognise you as an irish resident as you have to spend over 80 days of the year in the country.

Answer 2

Contact the Uni's in Ireland.

www.nui.ie - comprises four Constituent Universities - Dublin (UCD), Cork (UCC), Galway (NUIG) & Maynooth (NUIM).

www.ul.ie - limerick

www.dcu.ie

www.tcd.ie

then there is all of IT's (Institute of Technology)

also contact the www.cao.ie they would def know

Answer 3

I don't know about any sort of discount - maybe you should contact the colleges directly for that - but even with 'free' fees it works out pretty expensive. My undergrad cost me just over 5,000 euro.

Edit: Aine, yes, I know that. My point was that even though they're technically free, there is still an amount to be paid. I was referring to myself, being Irish, rather than any 'Yanks'.

Answer 4

There are three levels of fees for unis here. Free, EU and non-EU.

you qualify for free fees if you or your parents have been paying Irish tax for 3 of the previous 5 years.

EU fees are if your or your parents paid tax anywhere in the EU for 3 of 5 years. Everyone else is external.

However, I know for a fact that if you have Irish citizenship they don't ask for evidence of your tax payments.

Answer 5

FYI Lyndsayc...  considering that for Yanks an undergrad can pay $20,000 fees per year, your cost for undergrad looks like peanuts.

Be aware that being an Irish Citizen and being an Irish resident are two completely different things. I was born in Ireland which makes me a citizen but haven't lived there for years so therefore am not a resident.

Regarding discounts, I know when I was at University there that the foreign children of University graduates got a significant discount compared to other "random" foreigners. You might want to look into that, don't know if that is still the case. Back then we all paid fees!

Also you will have to apply through a different process than the kids coming out of high school over there, so immediately it will be apparent that you are not resident there. You won't be able to go through the CAO as they do.

Good luck, this is an avenue I will be seriously looking into for my children when they are old enough. You will get a great education there for a fraction ( a teeny-weeny fraction!) of a comparable degree here in the US.

Answer 6

As you are an Irish citizen I believe that the fees are free. Doesn't seem like you are some random yank at all.