Students who are applying for grants need to do so before 1 August, today, if they intend to take up a place in either a post-Leaving Cert college, a college of further education or an institute of technology or university.
In preparation for the 2013/14 academic year, Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) has introduced changes to make the process much easier and developed its internal procedures to respond to the experiences of last year’s applicants, where there were huge delays in payments for many students.
“Both the online application system and the application assessment process have been further developed to enhance their effectiveness and to deal with the difficulties experienced in year one,” the Department of Education outlined in a statement to AgriLand.
As at close of business on the 28th July 2013 SUSI received 69,687 new application for the academic year 2012/13. Of these 39,986 students were awarded a grant.
For the academic year 2011/2012, 76,644 (both new and renewal) were awarded a grant.
The statistical breakdown for 2012/2013 academic year will not be made available to the Department until the end of the academic year when the awarding authorities submit their returns. However it is estimated that some 78,000 students will have received support.
Criteria
Grant applications are means tested on gross income from all sources earned inside and outside the State within a specified reference period. Various income thresholds for a grant apply depending on the number of dependent children in a family and/or the number of children attending further and higher education.
Any applicant below these thresholds, who meets all of the other terms and conditions of the student grant scheme including those relating to residency, nationality, and previous academic attainment will qualify for a grant.
Further information is available on www.studentfinance.ie and from SUSI.
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