Streamlined SUSI delivers grants on time to thousands of students – McEntee

Fine Gael Meath East TD, Helen McEntee, has today (Monday) said that major progress has been made in making SUSI, the student grant awarding body, more effective. A total of 43,000 grants have been awarded by SUSI on schedule, with 39,000 already paid out for the academic year of 2013/2014.

“The problems encountered by students in applying for a grant last year were well documented, so I am delighted that SUSI has made such an effort to streamline its system, making it much more efficient and effective. Thanks to these improvements, this year’s process is running on schedule. A total of 43,000 students – 23,000 first-time applicants and 20,000 renewal students – have already been notified that they have been awarded grants, compared to just 6,000 this time last year.

“All eligible students who met SUSI’s priority processing deadlines and have submitted all the documents required to support their applications have now been awarded grants, in line with SUSI’s three-month timeline which began on 5^th August. This is proof that the overhauled system is working as intended.

“According to SUSI, it expects to award a total of 60,000 grants for this academic year; including 40,000 new applicants. The processing of applications is continuing, and students can keep track of the progress on late applications on the online tracker system at www.grantsonline.ie/eseries/.

“It’s important that any students who have been asked to return extra information do so as speedily as possible. This may apply to students who have been provisionally awarded a grant, but need to indicate which third level course they have accepted. They can complete a Final Course Acceptance (FCA) form in a matter of minutes online at www.susi.ie.   Once this document is in, the award can be finally confirmed and SUSI can notify the relevant college that an applicant has been awarded a grant.

“I would like to commend SUSI for responding so proactively to the problems which were experienced last year. SUSI was set up to replace the old, ineffective system where more than 40 authorities around the country issued grants for third level students. I am pleased that SUSI has navigated the road bumps of last year and there is now a system which makes it much easier for students to access their grants and start their college education.”

ENDS