Student leaders have claimed that thousands of third level students may be facing delays in receiving their grant payments for the forthcoming academic year after it emerged that the Departments of Finance and Education have yet to agree on what this year's allocation will be.
According to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), which is holding its annual seminar for incoming student officers in Galway this week, the delay means some students may have to pay an estimated €800 registration fee up front.
While most will eventually be reimbursed by their local authority, USI president Colm Hamrouge claims this puts significant financial stress on students as they prepare for the new academic year. He added that the students faced difficulty gaining access to important resources such as their library cards.
According to a Department of Education spokeswoman, details of the grants were announced on June 19th last year. But she confirmed that agreement on the level of grants and the income limits that will apply had not yet been signed off with the Department of Finance for the forthcoming academic year. She could not say why this was.
However, she said the Department did not envisage any delays in payments and hoped to be in a position to make an announcement on the matter shortly. She added that the application forms for the grants were already with the various awarding bodies and there was "nothing to stop" students applying for the grants in advance of agreement being reached with the Department of Finance.
However, Mr Hamrouge said yesterday that major delays in payments were "inevitable". He claimed it was unfair to expect students to make applications for grants without knowing what the income limits that determine whether they qualify for the grants would be.
"Before thousands of students start applying for the grant, we are already nearly a month behind," he said. "This is holding the whole thing up."
A spokesman for the Department of Finance said a proposal from the Department of Education in relation to the issue had been received by the Department yesterday. This was being considered "as a matter of urgency," he added.
A total of over 56,000 further and higher education students receive either the full or a reduced maintenance grant assistance. Meanwhile, the Government will announce details later today of a €36 million dormant accounts funding package aimed at addressing issues relating to disability and educational disadvantage.