Huge Delays with Student Grants!

 Posted 31st October 2012 by Cllr Frankie Keena

This week Cllr. Frankie Keena said that he has deep concerns about the alarming rate of third level grant applications that have been refused so far this year and the massive backlog in unprocessed applications.

This was confirmed last week by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn by answering a parliamentary question in the Dail when he stated that 72% of the grant applications processed so far this year have been refused. In addition to this, 78% of applicants are still waiting to hear back from the Department of Education. It is nearly November and there are still approximately 52,000 students waiting to hear if they will receive a grant, he said.

It seems unbelievable to me that the Department are turning away nearly 3 out of every 4 applicants that are processed so far and it is becoming clear that the new SUSI system is riddled with problems. This system was designed to speed up the administering of third-level grants, but it is not delivering, he stated.

 I am receiving a lot of representations from parents who are anxious to know if they will get a grant for their sons or daughters , it is wrong that they are being left in limbo two months into the college year, declared Cllr. Keena.

 I am now calling on the Education Minister to urgently explain these massive delays and alarming rate of rejections. When the SUSI system was launched, Minister Quinn said the process would be ‘quick and easy’ and that it would end the possibility of students facing ‘undue hardship as a result of delays’. Instead we have a situation where tens of thousands of students across the country are still in the dark about their grant applications, he concluded.