Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 November 2012
131. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether it is acceptable that less than 5% of applicants to Student Universal Support Ireland have received their grant payments; and the percentage of applicants who received their grant payments from the previous system administered by the 66 VECs and local authority. [51343/12]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, all new applications for the 2012/13 academic year are being processed and paid by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority.
SUSI as at the 16 November, 2012 paid student grants to some 4,420 students. SUSI is continuing to make payments on a weekly basis to ensure students can get paid their grant as expeditiously as possible, once they have been awarded a grant. All new student grants approved for this academic year will be paid by electronic funds transfer on a monthly basis directly to students' bank accounts, rather than by cheque to the relevant college. Those awarded a grant must supply bank account details and confirmation of registration must be received from the institution in order for the first instalment to be paid.
SUSI is aiming to achieve a target of 33,000 awards in total by the end of the year. SUSI will endeavour to ensure that students who are awarded a maintenance grant will be paid before the end of the year. Some of those awarded may not receive their grant until the beginning of January due to the requirements in respect of the provision of bank details and verification of attendance, together with the banking restrictions over the holiday period. However, every effort will be made by SUSI to ensure that all successful grant applicants get paid by December.
Continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on an existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC, will continue to have their applications processed and paid by the relevant grant awarding authority. Continuing students on a level 6 or level 7 course in the Institutes of Technology will continue to be paid their grant directly by their institution.
The 66 grant awarding authorities as at 2 November, 2012 paid student grants to some 20,672 renewal students. In addition, some 4,546 students were paid directly by their Institute. Accordingly some 76% of renewal students awarded a grant by the 66 grant awarding authorities have received their grant payments as at the 2 November, 2012. This data has been compiled from information provided to my Department by the 66 grant awarding authorities and the Institutes of Technology.
The Deputy should note that the migration of all new applications to SUSI has enabled the existing grant awarding authorities to process renewal applications more quickly. In addition, renewal applications are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.
