Students who were denied SUSI due to PUP should now reapply – Farrell

Students who were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and were subsequently not awarded the SUSI grant should now reapply through a ‘change of circumstance’ form, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Alan Farrell, who represents Dublin Fingal, said, “During the pandemic, many students were not able to work and were in receipt of the PUP. With regard to the SUSI grant application, the PUP payment was counted as reckonable income and some students may have been pushed above the threshold as a result.

“As the academic year has now resumed, students will no longer be in receipt of the PUP. However, their application for 2021/2022 was be based on their income for 2020.

“Therefore, any student that feels they were denied the SUSI grant because of their PUP, which they no longer receive, should apply for a re-evaluation under the change of circumstances form.

“This method is also available to students that may have received a reduced rate of the grant or a discontinuation of their funding.”

Deputy Farrell continued, “The SUSI grant plays such an important role in the lives of so many students in Ireland; nearly 100,000 students avail of the scheme every year, allowing them the chance to fully enjoy their time in higher education.

“Young people have sacrificed a huge amount over the course of the pandemic. Students sacrificed their ability to study on campus and now that they can return to on-campus learning, they should not have to curtail their engagement with their higher education experience because of a lack of finances, due to their PUP history, that they otherwise should receive,” Deputy Farrell concluded.