Grant system running smoothly, says Susi

The student grant awarding body Susi says it is two months ahead of where it was in the processing of grants last year, with many changes to the system helping it to run more smoothly.

Student Universal Support Ireland endured months of criticism in its inaugural year due to serious failures in the systems set up to pay student grants.

This week it emerged that the ombudsman had been asked to intervene in disputes with Susi, with 55 complaints accepted. Another 90 were rejected because the appeals procedure had not yet been fully exhausted by complainants, the ombudsman’s office said.

Dozens of changes to that system have helped make the process much easier for the student and less error prone, according to a statement from Susi.

Susi was introduced to streamline student payments which formerly came from dozens of bodies, including county councils and VECs. All of the awarding bodies transferred this responsibility to Susi, but the computer system and the procedures for applying for grants failed to perform.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn accepted some of the blame for these failures earlier this week. Mr Quinn added, however, that Susi had introduced many changes and it was hoped this would provide a much improved service for grant applicants.

The changes seem to be working so far, but Susi is only about half way through the 2013-14 processing round which is now under way. Some 41,000 students returned the requested documents as part of their applications. To date awards have been agreed to more than 10,000 students and another 5,000 have been provisionally awarded pending the receipt of course acceptance forms.

More information about required documentation is available at susi.ie and emails can be sent to support@susi.ie while a helpline is in operation, 076-1087874.