Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The eligibility criteria for student grants is reviewed annually and set out in the student grant scheme and the student support regulations each year. The eligibility of an applicant, or the level of the grant awarded, may be re-assessed by the awarding authority in the event of a change of circumstances in the academic year. The applicant should in the first instance contact SUSI and notify them of the change in circumstances.
If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI.
Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by SUSI, and remains of the view that SUSI has not interpreted the scheme correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the Student Grant Appeals Board. The relevant appeal form will be available on request from SUSI.
As the Deputy may be aware up until last year, students applied to their local authority or VEC for their grants. Some 66 grant awarding authorities were involved, all using a variety of application, assessment and payment processes. Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) replaces all of these with a centralised, and on-line system of application. I understand from SUSI in moving to the new process that what it could not have anticipated was the level of incorrect or incomplete supporting documentation subsequently submitted in support of applications. This has created bottlenecks in the system which SUSI is currently dealing with. My Department is ensuring that it has the resources and personnel to do so. SUSI is aiming to award all of the anticipated 33,000 successful applicants before the end of December.
