As always, grant approvals are lagging behind offers of college places. The synchronism in the two systems is causing anxiety as students worry about accepting a place when they don't know if they can afford to go to college. The closing date for grant applications was August 6th, six months after the main closing date for college applications through the Central Applications Office.
Why not bring the grant application date forward to coincide with the CAO February 1st deadline? That way, applications could be processed earlier and students would know whether they are eligible for a grant at the same time as they get an offer of a college place.
A spokesman for the Department of Education noted that only 40 per cent of grant applicants complied with this year's deadline, and said this was a major factor in the timescale for grant processing. Also, a large percentage of incomplete and incorrect applications are received each year.
At present, students must apply to their local authority or VEC for grants. The report of the Advisory Committee on Third-Level Students Support, which was published in 1995, found the administrative arrangements to be fragmented, cumbersome and very confusing. It recommended that the processing of grant applications and payments be transferred to a central office.
In August 1997, a working group involving officials from the Departments of Education and of Social, Community and Family Affairs began an examination of the various options for the administration of the student support schemes. It reported to the Minister for Education.
Four years after the advisory committee's report was published, a further detailed review is in the offing. It is possible that responsibility will pass from the Department of Education to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. Meanwhile, the confusing and fragmented system remains in place.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said there were "a number of issues at third-level that the Minister would like to see streamlined. These include the grant applications process as well as the access programmes for the disadvantaged. "Already, the Department has streamlined the process by which it makes funds available to local authorities so payments can be expedited quickly."
This year, the Department of Education set up a working group to redesign the grant scheme. This had been received "very positively and is more user-friendly", said a Department spokesperson. Unfortunately, the scheme was sent to the authorities on July 8th and the closing date for grant applications was set at August 6th.
This compares with last year's dates of June 7th and July 17th respectively. The local authorities and VECs have discretion as to when they will stop accepting applications and many authorities report as much as 50 per cent of applications arriving after the official closing date.
Grant approval around the State
College Places rang a number of local authorities and VECs to find out what the situation is at present.
City of Galway VEC is processing grant applications at the moment. Fewer than one-fifth of the applications were complete and the authority is now writing to and telephoning grant applicants seeking additional information. Those who sent in completed applications can expect to hear from the City of Galway VEC late this week or early next week.
Cork Corporation: will send out approval notices in the third week in September. Cheques will then be sent at the end of October or the beginning of November. They have received "lots of uncompleted forms" and they are currently requesting "additional information from many applicants".
Limerick County Council noted the late arrival of the scheme from the Department. Meanwhile, some applicants have sent in incomplete forms as they say they are waiting for their accountant to finish accounts. This is unnecessary as the council will accept last year's assessment, the spokesperson said. Students can expect to receive their cheques in October so long as there are no problems with the application. Waterford County Council has had problems with its computer system which has delayed the sending out of letters. It hopes to start sending letters from tomorrow once the system is live again. The authority is still receiving late applications. To date, only half a dozen forms are incomplete, so Waterford applicants seem to have the system sussed. The first payment will be made on October 1st.
Fingal County Council is hoping to send out some approval letters next week. The majority of forms are incomplete.
Dublin Corporation has received 842 applications, 200 more than last year, and is assessing them. As they are processed, letters will be sent out, so applicants can expect to hear in the coming weeks. Last year, cheques were sent out by October 20th. It is hoped they will be sent by a similar date this year. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has sent out 60 letters of approval to date. It received 281 applications. The spokesperson mentioned the late arrival of the scheme and also its new "user-friendly" appearance.
City of Cork VEC has sent out up to 15 letters but is waiting for students to be awarded a course and accept it before issuing the notice.
Co Meath VEC sent out 20 to 25 letters. The delay is because of huge volume of applications to get through and because up to 80 per cent of applications were incomplete. The first maintenance cheque will be sent out at the start of October.
City of Limerick VEC has not sent any letters of approval yet. It is still looking through application forms, many of which arrived late. It is hoped that letters will be sent out next week. The spokeswoman noted that August was a holiday month for the VEC.
Wexford VEC is "working hard" to process applications although it noted the late arrival of the scheme from the Department. Its deadline for applications was August 26th. The VEC should be sending out letters "in the near future". Most of the forms were completed correctly.
Co Dublin VEC said letters had not yet been sent out and there were problems with the standard of forms, many of which were incomplete.
Sligo VEC has not yet sent out letters. It waits for the student to accept the college places. There are problems with incomplete forms. It hopes to get letters out to those who sent in application forms by the deadline within the next week.
New technology and scripts
One anxious mother whose daughter will be looking at five of her marked Leaving Certificate scripts this weekend wanted to know if it was possible to bring in a laptop computer, a dictaphone or camera to record her impressions. To avoid the risk of tampering with the script, candidates and the person they nominate to accompany them may not bring in a pen, pencil or eraser.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said the question of recording equipment is at the discretion of the supervisor. It comes down to logistics - talking into a dictaphone, typing into a laptop or using a camera with a flash might distract other candidates, but there is no hard and fast rule.
Nursing
A number of nursing hopefuls contacted the College Places helpline wondering why they could not be told of their ranking on the reserve panel. There are about 1,000 candidates on this panel. They were not offered a place in the first round of offers but may be made an offer in round two.
A spokesman for the Nursing Careers Centre explained that simple ranking would not be very helpful to applicants. "The chance of a subsequent offer depends on the manner in which applicants expressed their preferences and the uptake of first-round offers as well as a candidate's ranking," he said. So, even if you are number one on the reserve panel, the hospitals you listed may not have any vacancies.
Additional research by Douglas Keatinge