7,049 students with no grant payment must be paid immediately – Jonathan O’Brien TD
Speaking from the Dáil today, Sinn Féin Education Spokesperson Deputy Jonathan called on the Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan to intervene with SUSI to ensure that the thousands of students who are still waiting for their grants to receive them.
The Cork North Central TD said;
“I have received information from the Minister that shows of 103,125 applications for SUSI assistance for this year, some 15,500 of them have not even been processed by SUSI and many students have no idea if they’ll be receiving assistance or not.
“Further to this, of the 57,451 applicants that have been processed and told they’re entitled to payment, there are 7,049 who haven’t received any payments from SUSI yet.
“Every year since it’s existed, SUSI has been late paying thousands of students and blamed it on not having bank details or the colleges being late registering people.
“While it’s conceivable that there may be a handful who haven’t supplied correct details, it is a bit far-fetched to expect people to believe that the majority of 7,049 students managed to pass the Leaving Cert and fill in CAO forms correctly but have failed to pass SUSI on their bank details.
“We have pointed out these problems in the past and even St. Vincent de Paul has called for the SUSI system to be reconfigured so it operates on the same timeline as the CAO system so students have more financial stability going to third level.
“These students must be paid immediately and I am calling on the Minister to address this as a matter of urgency.”
ENDS
Note to Editor: PQ containing relevant information is below
Uimhir:479
Ceist Pharlaiminte
Chun an Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíoctha
To the Minister for Education and Science
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who applied
for Student Universal Support Ireland grants but had not received notification
of their entitlement from Student Universal Support Ireland by 07 November
2014..
- Jonathan O'Brien.
* For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 18th November, 2014.
Reference Number: 44231/14
Freagra
Minister Jan O'Sullivan
According to figures provided to my Department by Student Universal Support
Ireland, SUSI received 103,125 grant applications for the 2014/2015 academic
year (64,697 new and 38,428 renewal grant applications submitted by continuing
students).
Of the total applications received some 15,500 (15,300 New and 200 Renewals)
have yet to be processed to completion.