Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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203. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the Student Supports Service is insisting upon a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath being assessed upon her parents income in terms of assessing eligibility for a higher education grant, given that this person is clearly independent; if the grant will be issued to this person without delay to enable her to pursue the final year of her degree qualification; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35175/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage the assistance of their public representatives in making enquiries about their grant applications.

This service compliments the established channels provided by SUSI which include online application tracking, a dedicated website, a telephone helpdesk, email and social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Enquiries may be emailed direct to SUSI at oireachtas@susi.ie. SUSI are responding to email queries within a matter of days.

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 may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI.

Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down in writing by SUSI and remains of the view that the scheme has not been interpreted correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board.