College applicants from Co Louth are amongst the most likely in the country to receive a means-tested student grant, according to new data.
The information, provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) to The Irish Times, shows that of the 2,242 CAO applicants from the Wee County last year, 65.9% of them received a grant.
Only six counties fared better, namely Longford (71.5%), Carlow (70.8%), Cavan (69.1%), Monaghan (68.6%), Donegal (68.1%) and Mayo (67.9%).
Indeed, Louth’s figure was even higher when just new applications to SUSI were taken into account. Last year there were 2,184 new applications to SUSI, with 1,478 grants awarded, an award rate of 67.7%.
Meanwhile, Dundalk IT have also revealed that they have doubled the number of offers it has made to school-leavers in the North following changes to its scoring system to attract more students south.
The college now awards additional points for each grade at A-Level and extra points for BTEC, another school qualification in the UK education system.
Previously the maximum points a school-leaver in the North could achieve was 450 points, compared with 600 in the South.
President Denis Cummins revealed that 97 offers had been made to students from the North, double that of last year.
Source: The Irish Times
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