Access DCU Entry Route (ADER) 2025- Now Open
The Access DCU Entry Route (ADER) is aimed at students who, due to their socio-economic background and low family income, face additional barriers to gaining entry to or taking up their place in DCU. Students must be under 23, and the eligibility criteria are the same as those for the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR). Students who have applied to HEAR do not need to apply to ADER unless they seek subsidised accommodation.
Applications for the Access DCU Entry Route (ADER) are evaluated based on several financial, cultural, and social conditions known as Indicators.
You must meet Indicator 1, plus at least two other Indicators, one of which must be from 4, 5 or 6, to be eligible for ADER.
1: Low income: The combined income of your parent(s), guardian(s), or spouse for the year ending 31 December 2023 must fall within the specified income limits.
2: Social Welfare Payment: In the year ending 31st December 2023, your parent(s)/guardian(s)/spouse has received a means-tested payment from the Department of Social and Family Affairs for at least 26 weeks.
3: You or your parent(s)/guardian(s) have a medical card/GP visit card valid on the 31st of December 2024.
4: Socio-Economic Grouping (SEG): You are part of a group that is under-represented in higher education, based on the occupation and employment status of your parent(s)/guardian(s). This grouping includes non-manual, semi-skilled, unskilled manual, and agricultural workers. Please see here for more information on SEG groupings.
5: Area Profile: You live in an area where there is concentrated disadvantage; in other words, an area where, for example, there is high unemployment and poverty. Please click here to look at your area.
6: DEIS School Attendance: You have completed five or more years at a secondary school participating in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme, administered by the Department of Education and Skills. Click here for a list of current DEIS post-primary schools.
In addition, you must:
- Be under 23 on the 1st of January 2025
- Meet DCU’s minimum entry (matriculation) requirements for your course of choice as per the DCU Prospectus.
Students who have deferred their place from the previous year are not eligible to apply for ADER.
Limited accommodation scholarships are available, and not all eligible applicants will receive one. To be considered for a subsidised accommodation scholarship, you must achieve the necessary points for your course choice; i.e., no points reduction has been given. Priority for accommodation scholarships will be given to students from the Travellers & Roma who live outside commuting distance.
- Please submit a statement from the Department of Social Protection for 2023, or alternatively, you may download and submit this form at your nearest Department of Social Protection/INTREO office completion.
- Please submit your parent(s)/guardian(s) Statement of Liability if you are employed, or a Self Assessment/Chapter 4 if you are self-employed for 2023. These documents can be obtained online from the Revenue Commissioners.
- If parents or guardians were made redundant and/or received a lump sum in 2023, you must submit a copy of an RP50.
- Children in the Care of the State/HSE/TUSLA: If you are or were a fostered or a separated child, or in the care of the Health Services/TUSLA, please provide a letter from TUSLA.
- The deadline for ADER applications is Friday, 9th May 2025. All supporting documents must be uploaded no later than Friday, 23rd May 2025.
Steps for uploading supporting financial documents:
- Return to the ADER application form on the DCU website using the same device you employed to complete this form.
- View previous submissions.
- Click the "edit" button.
- Scroll down to the "Upload Supporting Financial Documents Here."
- You may upload several documents.
- Where possible, write the applicant's name and CAO number on documents before uploading.