Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of student grant applicants still awaiting a decision on their application; when he expects the grants to be fully processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47538/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy may be aware, all new applications for the 2012/13 academic year are being processed by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. Continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on an existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC, will continue to have their applications processed by the relevant grant awarding authority.

In total, SUSI has received just over 66,000 completed application for student grants this year and 18,000 applications are now complete. This includes 9,000 applications which have been refused and 9,000 which have been awarded, or awarded pending submission of final course details by the student. SUSI is awaiting documentation on 21,000 applications and the remaining 27,000 are applications on hand with SUSI for processing. This data has been supplied to my Department by SUSI.

The 66 grant-awarding authorities as at 19 October, 2012 received 40,286 renewal applications and made decisions on 33,007 applications. Applications still awaiting a decision with the 66 grant-awarding awarding authorities include applications yet to be processed and applications where further documentation has been requested from the students in support of their application. This data has been compiled from information supplied to my Department from the 66 grant-awarding authorities.

The migration of the new applications to SUSI has enabled the 66 grant-awarding authorities to process renewal applications on a more efficient basis - these are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.

Processing of student grant applications by SUSI and the 66 grant awarding authorities is ongoing and subject to the timely receipt of all the requested supporting documentation.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide the figures per county of the number of student grant applicants who have been awarded the student grant but are still awaiting payment as of 23 October 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47539/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy is aware, all new applications for the 2012/13 academic year are being processed and paid by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. Continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on an existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC, will continue to have their applications processed and paid by the relevant grant awarding authority. Continuing students on a level 6 or level 7 course in the Institutes of Technology will continue to be paid their grant directly by their institution.
The first table provides a breakdown of new applications awarded student grants by county and the number that are awaiting payment of the maintenance element of their student grants as of 5 November, 2012. The data in the table has been provided to my Department by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. Payment of the maintenance grant is contingent on the supply of bank account details by the student and confirmation of registration by the institution being attended.
The second table provides a breakdown of renewals applications awarded by county and the number of renewal applications that have been paid as at 19 October, 2012. The numbers paid directly by their Institute of Technology is shown separately at the bottom of the table. The data in this table has been compiled from information supplied to my Department by the 66 grant-awarding authorities and the Institutes of Technology. A breakdown of data in relation to renewal students awarded fees-only grants by the 66 grant-awarding authorities is not available.

Figures per county - SUSI – New Applications

Figures per county - 66 Grant Awarding Authorities – Renewals

Schedule of payments in respect of Level 6 & Level 7 students in the academic year 2012/13

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form, the number of students who have applied, those that have been granted and those that have been refused the student grant for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47540/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy is aware, all new applications for the 2012/13 academic year are being processed by SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority. Continuing students who are renewing their grant for attendance on an existing course with their existing awarding authority, which will be either a local authority or a VEC, will continue to have their applications processed by the relevant grant-awarding authority.
A survey completed by the the grant awarding authorities in January each year provides details in relation to processing of grant applications. The accompanying table provides details supplied to my Department by the grant awarding authorities as at week ending the third week of January for 2009, 2010 and 2011. Further decisions in later months may have resulted in additional awards.
In relation to the 2012/13 academic year SUSI has received just over 66,000 completed applications for student grants this year to date. Approximately 18,000 applications are now complete and have either been provisionally awarded, awarded or refused. This includes 9,000 applications which have been refused and 9,000 which have been awarded, or awarded pending submission of final course details by the student.
The processing position for the 2012/13 academic year in relation to renewals as at 19 October 2012 is that the 66 grant-awarding authorities have dealt with 40,286 renewal applications. A total of 31,049 applications have been awarded and 1,958 applications have been approved. The data in relation to renewals has been compiled from information supplied to my Department by the 66 grant-awarding authorities
The Deputy will appreciate that the data in relation to the 2012/13 academic year is not directly comparable as it does not cover the same time frame. The statistics for the previous years are as of the third week in January and therefore include three additional months processing by the various awarding authorities. In addition, the migration of the new applications to SUSI has enabled the 66 grant-awarding authorities to process renewal applications on a more efficient basis - these are generally more straightforward and require significantly less documentary evidence.

66 Grant Awarding Authorities – Processing Position as per January Survey

Applications not decided as at third week in January each year would include applications where documentation was outstanding, incomplete applications, applications transferred to another assessing body and applications yet to be processed.