Full-time study
To be entitled to Living Costs or Course-Related Costs, a student must be a full-time student, or separately approved to study on a Limited full-time basis.
Tertiary programmes have an Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS) value assigned to them.
The EFTS value determines if a course of study is full-time or not.
The Verification of Study (VoS) process is used to confirm the EFTS of a student's course of study.
To be full-time, a student must be studying the minimum EFTS in regards to weeks, as outlined in the LET table below.
Loan Entry Threshold (LET) Table
Number of weeks (gross weeks) | EFTS | Number of weeks (gross weeks) | EFTS | |
12 | 0.3 | 23 | 0.575 | |
13 | 0.3 | 24 | 0.6 | |
14 | 0.3 | 25 | 0.625 | |
15 | 0.3 | 26 | 0.65 | |
16 | 0.4 | 27 | 0.675 | |
17 | 0.4 | 28 | 0.7 | |
18 | 0.4 | 29 | 0.725 | |
19 | 0.4 | 30 | 0.75 | |
20 | 0.5 | 31 | 0.775 | |
21 | 0.525 | 32-52 | 0.8 | |
22 | 0.55 | 53 or more | 1.0 |
A student may have a period of study which is less than 12 weeks (for example some trimester 3 study). If this is the case, a student is considered to be undertaking full-time study if they are studying at least 0.025 EFTS per teaching week.
Full-time - trimester 3 (summer school) study
Students who are undertaking study in trimester 3 (i.e. study that is undertaken over the summer period) need to meet all general Student Loan eligibility and entitlement criteria (like any other applicant), to qualify for a Student Loan.
If the trimester 3 is attached to their existing or subsequent study programme the student can be eligible for any part of the combined study that is full-time.
Full year courses not full-time for the whole year
Students undertaking full-year courses that are not full-time for the whole year can be eligible for Living Costs and Course-Related Costs for any periods of study they are full-time.
This can occur where there are combinations of full-year and part-year study within the overall study programme.
