Over 2,200 Students Are Still Waiting For Grants

As the end of the college term approaches, there are still more than 2,200 students waiting for their grants from SUSI, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming has revealed.

According to new figures received by Deputy Fleming through a Parliamentary Question, 328 grants still have not been processed. In addition to this there are 1,938 students still in dispute with SUSI over documentation that has or hasn’t been supplied.

Deputy Fleming said: "Minister Quinn has presided over a complete shambles in SUSI. I know students who have not been able to sit their exams this year and others who have dropped out of college altogether because they haven’t got their maintenance grants. This is causing real hardship for thousands of students across the country.

"The fact that over 300 applications haven’t been processed in May is a disgrace. This is a real crisis for students and it is not being addressed by Minister Quinn. There have also been many cases of students not being able to contact SUSI, of documents submitted being lost and SUSI claiming that it is the students who have failed to provide the relevant documents.

"The launch of the SUSI system, centralising all grant applications into one organisation, was hailed as a key model of government reform and an example to showcase. But the reality has been a litany of mistakes and mismanagement that does not bode well for the government’s reform agenda."

(CD)