Student Grant Scheme Eligibility

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 November 2014

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Questions (435)

Seán Fleming

Question:

435. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in County Laois who submitted an application for a third level grant to Student Universal Support Ireland on 20 May 2014 and has recently been informed by a third party that they are not eligible for the grant due to the level of the course they are attending; the reason SUSI have corresponded on various occasions over a six month period dealing with this application when it should have been clear to them from the beginning that it was not eligible; the reason the person has not yet been informed by SUSI regarding eligibility; the reason SUSI has wasted so much time of the applicant and of their own organisation dealing with ineligible cases and should they not be required to check eligibility regarding the persons participation on a course at an early stage and avoid six months of waste of time and resources; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45110/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

My Department has confirmed with SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) that the application of the student referred to by the Deputy was assessed based on the information provided by the student in her online application.

As SUSI did not have access to the applicant's course details or previous education at the initial assessment stage, the application was processed according to the information declared by the applicant. At that point, the information provided indicated the student may have been eligible for student grant funding as it appeared the student was entering year 3 of an approved course.

Following a process of sharing information with the CAO, SUSI became aware of a conflict in information in relation to the student's educational history. To clarify the information provided by the student, SUSI requested documentation from the student.

Having considered all the information in respect of the student's previous academic attendance SUSI issued a decision to the student on 20 November, 2014.