How will I know if I'm eligible?
As education disadvantage is a complex issue, you will be assessed on a range of indicators relating to your financial, social and cultural circumstances.
Click on each indicator below for more detailed information:
Financial Indicators
- Income:Your family income (in the year ended 31 December 2010) falls on or below the HEAR Income Limit.
- Medical Card:
Your family has a Medical Card or GP Visit Card on 31 December 2011.
- Social Welfare Payment:
Your family received a means-tested payment from the Department of Social Protection (formally Department of Social Welfare) for at least 26 weeks in 2010.
Social and Cultural Indicators:
- Socio-economic Group:
You belong to a group that is under-represented in higher education
based on the occupation and employment status of your parent(s) or guardian(s). At the moment the group includes non-manual workers; semi & unskilled manual workers and agricultural workers.
- School:
You completed five years in a secondary school that takes part in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme run by the Department of Education & Skills.
- Area:
You live in an area (urban or rural) in which there is concentrated disadvantage and social exclusion
- in other words, an area where, for example, there is high unemployment and poverty and very few facilities for the community.
To be eligible for the HEAR Scheme you must meet the Low Income indicator (no. 1) plus a combination of two other indicators.
Combinations that allow you to take part in the HEAR Scheme are:
INDICATOR 1 plus 2 plus 4 or 5 or 6
INDICATOR 1 plus 3 plus 4 or 5 or 6
INDICATOR 1 plus 4 plus 5 or 6
INDICATOR 1 plus 5 plus 6