The Student Accommodation Financial Assistance for the 2025/2026 academic year is now closed.
For further information, please contact [email protected]
Student Accommodation Financial Assistance for the 2025/2026 academic year
What is the Student Accommodation Assistance?
For the 2025/2026 academic year, funding is being provided to assist students from Traveller and Roma backgrounds and those with experience of the care system with the cost of accommodation, when living independently while attending third level education. The aim of the Student Accommodation Assistance is to alleviate the cost of accommodation as a barrier to accessing higher education.
- €600,000 has been ring-fenced for the current academic year; this is the total amount of funding available at a national level, this is not an exclusive SETU support.
- This fund will be utilised to assist students from Irish Traveller Community, Roma Community and those with experience of the care system with the cost of accommodation, when living independently while attending third level education.
- The aim is to alleviate the cost of accommodation as a barrier to accessing and progressing through higher education.
- Funding for subsequent years will be subject to the annual budgetary negotiations and approvals.
- Both full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate students (including repeat students) who meet the specified criteria are eligible for student accommodation assistance. The assistance awarded will be the total cost of the students rent, up to a maximum of €6,000 per academic year.
- The student must provide proof of their rental costs regardless of whether the student resides in private rental, digs, or student specific accommodation on and off-campus.
- If awarded this financial support, the student accommodation assistance will be paid in two instalments by EFT to the student each semester to cover their rental commitments up to a maximum total of €6,000 in the academic year 2025/26, subject to the student attending their course on a regular basis.
- Students can apply for their rental costs up to a maximum of €6,000 per academic year, this includes costs for leases up to 12 months duration. If a student only requires accommodation for one semester, they can apply for their rental costs up to a maximum of €3,000.
- Students in receipt of the student accommodation assistance can also avail of Student Assistance Fund support in SETU.
Please note that SETU cannot guarantee that all eligible students will be supported by this fund due to budgetary constraints.
Student Accommodation Assistance Eligibility
To be eligible for the student accommodation assistance, students must be a member of one or more of the following groups:
- Irish Traveller Community
- Roma Community
- Have experience of the care system between the ages of 12-18 and are not eligible for an aftercare allowance.
What is meant by experience of the care system?
You have had care experience within the Republic of Ireland under a care order as legislated for in the Childcare Act 1991, including under Section 5 of the Act.
Students from one or more of these categories must be living independently for the purpose of attending third level education; this includes students renting away from home during the academic year and also those students with leases covering 12 months and beyond
Application Process Details:
- The application process is now closed.
- For more information, including some very relevant and informative FAQ’s please click HERE
For any further queries, please email [email protected]
If you are a student studying on our Carlow or Wexford campuses, please email [email protected]
