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SOME 55 CASES of complaints against national student grant system SUSI, have been accepted by the Ombudsman with 34 of those still open.
More than 20 of these complaints have been resolved and SUSI said that it is “working closely with the office of the Ombudsman to resolve the remainder”.
The office of the Ombudsman said today that in about half of the closed cases, “a favourable outcome was obtained for the complainant following this office’s involvement”.
A further 90 complaints were not accepted for consideration by the Ombudsman as the appeals process had not been exhausted.
Almost all of the complaints relate to 2012/2013 rather than the current round of applications, a spokesperson said.
Some 70,000 grant applications were processed by SUSI in 2012/2013 and it said that all of those have been processed and a decision has been given on them. However a number of appeals from last year are ongoing and SUSI said they are “receiving priority attention”.
SUSI is due to publish a progress report later this week with details on this year’s round of applications.
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I wish current undergrads luck with this.
I once went nine months waiting for mine. I was locked out of the library, locked out of blackboard, when I went to the school office to ask for a reading list and course outline, they said ”why can’t you get it off blackboard” , I explained I’d not paid my fees yet ”becau-” I got 2/3 of the way through the word ‘because’ when she looked at me in melodramatic horror ”WHY have you not paid your fees ? were 3 weeks in now I mean..” , I said ”I don’t have the money my grants delayed because of a technicality and I don’t know how much longer it’s going to be so I don’t wanna fall behind on course work, so can I have a reading list please?”, ”well you actually should not be going to lectures while you’ve not paid your fees let alone getting lists, and we dont’ have them here anyway”.
Now she could have been constrained by the colleges restrictive rules and said ”I’m so sorry I wish I could help you…” but instead she spoke down to me as if I was dirt.
I decided to go see one or two of my lecturers thinking I’d get the list off them directly, surely no teacher want’s their students to be falling behind cos of fees. It turned out she’d rang around all my lecturers instructing them not to help me, she had called seven lectuerers….now those of you who work in the PS, THIS is why you find no help or support from the rest of us, because you treat the public like THAT day in day out, and I have heard enough stories from other students who were not from well off backgrounds to know it applies across the board.
These are the barriers you’re up against as a student in Ireland, your own college acivly preventing you from accessing course materials, yet I still hear DOE staff on the radio swearing blind you don’t get locked out of the library etc when you can’t pay the fees, well it’s a lie.
It’s absolutely a lie! Our college told us straight that if our fees are delayed, grant or no grant, we WILL be locked out of all facilities. DES are so full of shyyyte!
While SUSI is ‘working closely’ with the Ombudsman on student grant complaints, all the students want is SUSI to be working closley with them.
I’ve had all the correct paperwork submitted for my daughters for 2013/2014 new applicants since July 16. Every time you check on-line all you get is ‘Awaiting Assessment.’
One day we will have a grown up country where everything works as it should.
They were fairly quick to come back and reject my brothers application even though my mam is unemployed. My dad earns slightly over the threshold but is supporting two sons a wife and a mortgage that keeps going up unsustainably. Not taken into account. Yet his two mates got thousands because their parents were split up. Both working, but not together. Go figure. SUSI is a joke. Thank god for the credit union or he’d be another young man on the dole.
My dad is in the very same situation Damian. My sister is still waiting and there are outstanding fees that need to be paid now. He’s a single dad trying to keep up with his mortgage and two other kids in primary school. SUSI’s f*ck ups are causing real hardship. It’s a disgrace.
‘Susi’ means ‘wolf’ in Finnish. Coincidence?
While in Ireland it means Stupid Unionised Self-important Idiots
Ha! Biggest laugh I’ve had all day! :)
But I thought all private business was supposed to be a beam of efficiency?
Wow Larry what an ingenious notion, surprised no one has thought of that up to now. You’re clearly an individual who has never had a financial worry in his life.
One of the problems we came across last yr, when my eldest was going into 1st year, was that ALL emails/correspondence had to be submitted via HIS email address. His email was linked to his student number/account number. Anything that I submitted from my email just went straight to their pending/outstanding files. These docs would be left sitting there.
It was just pure fluke that a SUSI staff member happened to mention it.
If any of you are having problems maybe just double check that everything is being sent directly from the students email and not from 2/3 different ones e.g. mum, dad & student.
Dealing with SUSI is a nightmare. Two years on a row, it has taken months to resolve. You send in all documents and then are told one is missing even though it was in the same envelope. Last year, I was told they wouldn’t process the application until I submitted my income from farming. It didn’t matter how many times I told them I didn’t have a farm! This year they made a mistake calculating my income which made my child ineligible. They admitted the mistake but rather than re assess, we had to appeal the decision. It takes the notion of “endurance test” to a whole new level.
For goodness sake, if you are so financially strapped that you can’t come up with the money for school, maybe a part time job is an option? You could easily cover the paltry fees they charge in Ireland by working part time in McDonalds.
That’s a McShite idea.
In college at the minute and I have a part time job that won’t cover fees let alone rent, bills, the costs of books and travel.
A part time job wouldn’t even cover the cost of books, let alone pay the actual college fees and the rent some people have to pay, or transport to college! And its all well and good saying we should get a part time job when there’s none out there, McDonalds probably wouldn’t even hire a college student anyway because I’m sure there getting people who already have full degrees apply for any jobs they have going. Its horrible how college students are treated over here as opposed to other countries. They tell us we NEED to go to college yet if you can’t pay on time your locked out of the use of college facilities and/or not allowed to attend your lectures, its bloody ridiculous!
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