Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when he proposes to publish details of the higher education grants scheme and income guidelines for same for the 2012/2013 school year; and if he will outline the organisation that will be processing these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26922/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The student grant scheme for the 2012/13 academic year will be published on www.studentfinance.ie in the coming week. As the Deputy may be aware, from the 2012/13 year onwards, grants will be centrally administered by a single grant awarding authority Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI - a division of the City of Dublin VEC) which will administer the Student Grant Scheme on behalf of my Department. A new online-only grant applications system is being introduced for the academic year 2012/13. SUSI will accept new applications only in its first year of operation. Renewal applications will continue to be dealt with by the existing 66 grant awarding authorities. The online applications system is currently undergoing rigorous stress testing to ensure that the application process will run smoothly. I am confident that the establishment of a single grant awarding authority will greatly improve the efficiency of the process and will eliminate the delays which some students have experienced in recent years.