GALWAY STUDENT GRANT DELAYS WON’T BE RESOLVED THIS MONTH

Date Published: 08-Nov-2012

The backlog of all successful third level student grant applications won’t be processed and paid until next month.

That’s the response received by Galway West Labour Deputy Derek Nolan when he raised the matter in the Dail this week.

Deputy Nolan had questioned whether teething problems with the new online SUSI system had resulted in delays in issuing much needed payments to Galway city’s huge student population.

The system which went live in June means that now all grant applications are centralised, after they were previously processed by more than 60 separate local authorities, including Galway County Council.

Speaking in the Dail, Deputy Nolan said the delays have caused real hardship for young students in Galway who are struggling to manage day-to-day costs.

Speaking in response on behalf of the Education Minister, Minister of State Sean Sherlock said the backlog will be dealt with by December.