Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students in total that have applied for a third level maintenance grant under Student Universal Support Ireland since it became operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46118/12]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who have applied for the maintenance grant under the Student Universal Support Ireland; the number that have received confirmation that their application was approved; the number who have received their first instalment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46119/12]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the date upon which students began to receive approval of their grant application form Student Universal Support Ireland; the dates of the period whereby the majority of those in receipt of grants under SUSI gained approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46120/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 246 to 248, inclusive, together.

56,604 on-line student grant applications were submitted to Student Universal Ireland (SUSI) by the official closing date which was 31st August 2012. SUSI is currently accepting applications after the official closing date in line with the discretion given to it under the Student Grant Scheme 2012. An additional 8,731 late applications have been received since the closing date. Priority is being given to applications received before the official closing date.

SUSI has completed initial assessments on a total of 60,227 of applications which have been approved to move to the documentary evidence stage of the process. 5,108 applications submitted after the official closing date are awaiting initial assessment.

Decisions have issued in respect of 13,486 applications, 3,795 of which have already been awarded a grant and 9,691 of which have either been refused or cancelled, where adequate documentary evidence has been submitted to enable a final decision to be made on an application. Students began to receive grant approval letters from SUSI on a rolling basis from 5th October.

As part of the overall improvement in service, all new student grants approved for this academic year will be paid by electronic funds transfer on a monthly basis directly to students' bank accounts, rather than by cheque to the relevant college. Those awarded a grant must supply bank account details and confirmation of registration must be received from the institution in order for the first instalment to be paid. Payments to students have commenced and will continue on a weekly rolling basis as grants are approved and bank details have been supplied by the student. Some 663 students received payment directly to their bank account on the 19th October.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm that 19,000 students have yet to return the required documentation to Student Universal Support Ireland in order to complete their application; if some 20,000 students have returned incorrect or incomplete information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46121/12]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason 20,000 students have returned incorrect or incomplete information in relation to the grant application to Student Universal Support Ireland; his views on whether the problem lies with the application form or the new system put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46122/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 249 and 250 together.

At the time of response the figures quoted by Deputy Cannon were correct. There are still 16,351 cases where no documentation has been furnished by the applicants in response to SUSI's request. In addition, in a very significant number of cases an incomplete set of documentation was received and SUSI has had to make further requests to these students to submit the outstanding information. 19,629 document packs are currently in the process of being validated by SUSI – some 89% of these are cases where the initial pack submitted by the applicant was incomplete.

The submission of supporting documentation by students together with submitting a fully complete and legible application form has tradionally given rise to difficulties in relation to the timely processing of applications for student grants. The online application process addresses the issue of incomplete and difficult to read applications.

In order to ensure a decision on a student's application, it is critical that the required supporting documentation is provided. A number of measures were put in place by SUSI to try to address the perennial issue of incomplete documentation. Every student is issued with a personalised checklist of the documentation required to support their student grant application. The student also receives a guide which outlines where the requested documents may be sourced. The purpose of this process is to offer the student as much assistance as possible in returning the requested information. Copies of all requested documentation is now acceptable. In the past only original documentation was accepted. A pre-addressed envelope is included with the pack to facilitate the return of these documents. In spite of these measures there continues to be a significant number of applications where full documentation has not been submitted.

Where the applicant has not yet returned the outstanding documentation, SUSI is continuing to contact the applicants by email and text message to enable the applications to proceed to final decision stage. The matter of outstanding documentation is being kept under continuous review to ensure that every effort is being made to progress applications to final decisions as soon as possible.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills of the number of students in receipt of third level grants, under both the old system and under Student Universal Support Ireland, the number in total that are yet to receive confirmation of approval and the first of their instalments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46123/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The attached tables give the processing position for renewal students who are being dealt with by local authorities and VECs and for new students who are being handled by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). The tables give the position for student grant applications for attendance at both further and higher education. The migration of the new applications to SUSI has enabled the awarding authorities under the old system to deal with the renewals on a more efficient basis - these are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.
The first table details the position in relation to continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on their existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC. The information contained in this table has been compiled from data supplied to my Department by the existing 66 grant awarding authorities who are continuing to process renewal applications. The data presented reflects the latest available processing position as at week ended 5th October, 2012.
The second table details the position under the new system and relates to new applications for 2012/13 being processed by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. The data presented reflects the processing position with effect from week ended 19th October, 2012. The information contained in this table has been supplied to my Department by SUSI.

66 Grant Awarding Authorities - Processing Position as at 5/10/2012

*Paid students do not include students who are paid directly by the Institutes of Technology

SUSI - Processing Position as at 18/10/210

* These students received payment directly to their bank accounts on 19.10.12

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork did not receive a college maintenance grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46148/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), the new centralised awarding authority, that the grant application of the student referred to by the Deputy for the 2012/13 academic year was refused. SUSI has confirmed that the applicant appealed their decision on 16th October and a determination will issue shortly. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by SUSI, and remains of the view that SUSI has not interpreted the scheme correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the Student Grant Appeals Board. The relevant appeal form will be available on request from SUSI.