Student Grant Scheme Application Numbers

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 December 2012

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Questions (187)

Tom Fleming

Question:

187. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of applicants for third level education grants to each of the three grants agencies countrywide, Student Universal Support Ireland, vocational education committees and local authorities, in tabular form; the total by each agency; the number of applications to each agency; the number of applications completed to date by each agency; the number of completed applications by each agency awarded a grant; the number refused by each agency; the number of applications currently being processed by each agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55409/12]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn)

The first table provides a breakdown of the status of student grant renewal applications received by the Vocational Education Committees and the local authorities as at 30 November, 2012. It gives the position for student grant applications for attendance at higher education. This data has been provided to my Department by the 66 grant awarding authorities.

The second table provides a breakdown of the status of the student grant applications received by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). The data provided is at close of business on 9 December, 2012. It gives the position for student grant applications for attendance at both further and higher education. This data has been provided to my Department by SUSI.

The migration of the new applications to SUSI has enabled the 66 grant awarding authorities to process renewal applications on a more efficient basis - these are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.

Local Authorities - Processing Position as at week ending 30/11/2012

Local Authorities	Number of Renewals	Awarded	Refused	Ongoing / Further Information or Documentation Requested	Cancelled / Withdrawn	Yet to be Processed
Higher Education	23,103	19,747	937	1,478	387	554

VEC - Processing Position as at week ending 30/11/2012

VEC	Number of Renewals	Awarded	Refused	Ongoing / Further Information or Documentation Requested	Cancelled / Withdrawn	Yet to be Processed
Higher Education	18,059	15,416	371	1,515	722	35

SUSI Applications - Processing position

Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI)	Total Applications	Awarded	Refused/ Cancelled	With SUSI for processing	Awaiting documentation from students
Total	66,891	20,859*	13,077	8,254	24,701

* This figure includes some 2,338 provisionally awarding awaiting final course acceptance forms.