The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has urged students who haven’t submitted their grant funding applications for the 2016/2017 academic year to do so immediately, as the deadline is this Friday.
SUSI, the national student grant awarding body, opened its online application system on April 5 and has received 70,000 applications to date for the 2016/2017 academic year.
“SUSI are expecting to receive about 110,000 applications for the 2016/2017 academic year.” Annie Hoey, USI president, said. “We are encouraging students who are considering applying for a grant to go to the SUSI website, www.susi.ie, as soon as possible, check the eligibility criteria and submit their application before the deadline. Students this year are in a better position to those in previous years, as they can find out if they are awarded grants before they receive their results and CAO offers, unlike previous years, where leaving cert students had to wait until late CAO offers and results came in before they were given their grants, in August.”
USI believes this earlier grant application process will reduce the stress levels in college applications and decrease college drop-out rates because with a faster grant application and awarding system, students will be able to forward plan their finances and budget sooner.
Ms Hoey also emphasised that checking grant eligibility is a very fast and easy process with the Grant Eligibility Reckoner on the SUSI website. USI is also encouraging students to use their online application trackers where they can track the progress of their applications and see what documentation has been uploaded successfully without having to call up SUSI directly.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.