Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the qualification criteria currently being applied and process all student grant applications as a matter of urgency; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that more than 66,000 applications have been received by Student Universal Support Ireland and to date only 18,000 have been processed, 9,000 of these have been approved, a further 9,000 have been refused, leaving 48,000 to be processed and finalised; if he will review the qualification guidelines being applied by SUSI in the current economic climate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50636/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The eligibility criteria for student grants is reviewed annually and set out in the student grant scheme and the student support regulations each year. The eligibility of an applicant, or the level of the grant awarded, may be re-assessed by the awarding authority in the event of a change of circumstances in the academic year. The applicant should in the first instance contact SUSI and notify them of the change in circumstances.

If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he

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

As the Deputy may be aware up until last year, students applied to their local authority or VEC for their grants. Some 66 grant awarding authorities were