by
Kevin Kelly, Inishowen Independent
THE delay in processing third level grants
applications in Donegal is causing hardship for
students at colleges across the country.
An Inishowen student who did not wish to be
identified, outlines just how hard the delays in
processing applications, is hitting her.
“I have been back at college now for over a month,”
the local student said. “After last year I was
expecting to have to wait for two to three weeks
before I received the grant. However, it is now the
start of November and I still haven’t received the
first instalment of the grant.”
Weekly rental costs of €100, plus a deposit and
registration fees of more than €1,500 have added to
the stress. “While I will recoup the registration
fees once my grant is approved, it was hard to
gather that amount of money before the registration
deadline.”
She said her weekly shopping costs €40 and the
expensive textbooks were all adding to the financial
strain.
“Books for my course are pretty expensive with a
typical text costing around €100, with several texts
being required per module,” she said. “Borrowing
books from the library can help but the texts aren’t
always available as they are in high demand and in
some cases you are required to have your own.”
Many students used part-time work to tide them over
until the grant was paid and to supplement their
income during the year. However, that avenue has all
but dried up for most students.
“Donegal County Council’s grants section will now
only take calls two days a week for a short time and
the lines are very busy so it can be tough to get
through,” the student said. “When I eventually did
get to speak to someone they were unable to assist
me or offer any direction as to when the grants are
going to be paid.”
“It’s unfair to blame students for the delays. While
some students won’t have provided all the necessary
information, hundreds of us – including me – have
done so but we are still waiting for our grants.”
“I am becoming very worried about how I am going to
manage, if the grant isn’t paid soon. Dropping out
isn’t something I want to have to consider but it is
quickly becoming the only option I may have.”
The Council said in a statement that its staff are
working hard to cope with additional demands caused
by an increased number of applications in the
context of constraints imposed by the Government on
the recruitment of permanent and temporary employees
“Council staff are working extremely hard to cope
with the additional demands, which are exacerbated
by the fact that many applications are incomplete
when submitted and require further follow up with
the applicants,” a council spokesperson said.
“Provided that applicants respond promptly to
outstanding requests for information, we expect to
clear the backlog in the coming weeks.” Meanwhile,
in a press release issued yesterday, North Inishowen
Fianna Fáil Councillor Charlie McConalogue laid the
blame squarely at the foot of the Department of
Education’s delay in issuing the terms of the
student grants scheme to county councils and VECs.
“Donegal VEC received a total of 2,728 grant
applications this year while Donegal County Council
received 1,270,” Cllr McConalogue said. “This means
that almost 4,000 students across Donegal were
inconvenienced to various degrees by the
Department’s lethargy in publishing the Student
Grants Scheme.”
Cllr McConalogue added that new applications for the
2009/10 academic year were almost doubled on the
previous year and these are more time consuming than
renewals and that first time students that suffered
the most stressful delays. |
