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A CO CLARE student has spoken of his frustration at being denied a maintenance grant for the third time in four years.
Raymond, 21, who asked that his surname not be used, says his latest grant application was rejected earlier this year as he was deemed not be “progressing” in enrolling on a level five course in the UK.
Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi), which processes grant applications, only approves funding for students with prior third-level education when they are advancing to a higher-level degree than their previous course.
Students who withdraw from a level eight course after a year, for example, are not eligible to receive funding for the first year of another level eight course, unless there is a five-year break in their studies.
But Raymond, who was born in Nigeria and brought up in Ennis, thinks the rule should be changed to accommodate students whose grant rejections have forced them out of education.
Two and a half years ago, he says he had no option but to drop out of a level seven course in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology after Susi declined his funding application.
Raymond met Susi’s eligibility criteria at the time, as a student related to an EU citizen, but had mistakenly submitted his grant application with an immigration certificate registered under a parent’s name.
That was the reason given to him by a Susi official when he was told, shortly before his summer exams in 2013, that his application had been rejected.
“If Susi had told me this earlier I would have tried to get the [Garda National Immigration Bureau] card under my own name,” says Raymond, who moved to Ireland 11 years ago.
He claims to have been told on several occasions since the beginning of that academic year that his documents were in order and the payment would be forthcoming.
Difficulties
Raymond was awarded a grant for the following year, when he moved to Cork to study on a PLC course, but that too was cancelled after Susi allegedly told him a mistake had been made in approving his application.
His monthly €120 grant payment left him with just over €10 to spend on living expenses every week – he paid €70 a month to sleep on someone’s couch – and so when that cancelled he had to drop out, again.
Now, living in Birmingham, where he is studying for a diploma in marketing and events management, he walks every day to college and back, a two-hour round trip, because he can’t afford to get the bus.
His latest grant application has hit him hard, he says.
I don’t know what to do. All I want is a chance to progress but Susi wants to take another year of education from me.
Susi said it does not comment on individual cases when contacted for a response.
A spokesperson said repeat periods of study are not eligible for funding and that further information can be found on the Susi website, www.susi.ie.
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Sad indictment on society’s values when thousands of people are being killed daily in many countries and no one really cares but because these are the rich and famous losing their luxury mansions, there is massive media coverage and public shock horror.
@David F: What are you talking about?! These are the very people who make our dreams come true! They also tirelessly work around the clock rallying for causes for those without a voice. There ought to be a Band Aid type concert in all the global cities to raise the necessary funds to rebuild their mansions. If it wasn’t for Cary Elwes, my son and I would never have had fun drinking iocaine powder. That memory alone is priceless.
@Pól Pot: And the poor things all still depressed over Kamalalla losing!
How bad can it get?
There are pensioners in their homes now in Ireland who cannot put on heating to warm their homes because costs of heating are way over the top.
I guarantee you knew there are people who are literally freezing.Are we supposed to feel sorry for these multi millionaires and billions who have homes all over the world, who have made their money through the likes of pensioners and the like.
Hell no not me anyway that’s for sure, suck it up you have earned it.
@Phillip Smyth: You know you can feel sorry for more than one set of people at any one time right? I feel sorry for anyone who has been affected by the cold weather here and has been without power for up to 5 days. I hope that they are able to stay warm, get hot food delivered at least and that they’re electricity is restored too.
I can also feel sorry for individuals who have lost homes to a devastating wildfire that they have raised families in and had so many memories in. Yes they are probably in a better position to rebuild and move on than most but it still doesn’t make it less sad for them to have to flee with just what they can carry and watch their home burn to the ground.
Empathy doesn’t have to be limited.
@Susan Walsh: in this instance it does.
@Phillip Smyth: Why? Like legitimately, why? Can you not feel for people who’ve lost their homes? I mean Billy Crystal was in his for 45 years. Yes he can afford to rebuild, but you can never get back the house you raised your family in.
Actual empathy is feeling for another person no matter their wealth or social status.
@Susan Walsh: it’s crystal clear on my part, I m sorry but I don’t feel sorry for these people their circumstances allow me to be honest.
@Phillip Smyth: you’re not supposed to do anything, Phillip. It’s your choice whether you want to feel sorry for them, or not
@Susan Walsh: majority of them are pro Zionists and use their power, money and influence to oppress and murder Palestinians while denying them even the right to give voice to their oppression. Hollywood, specifically the inhabitants of the Hollywood hills are a substantial chunk of the financial power of AIPAC.
@Phillip Smyth: You’re a pretty pathetic lowlife dirtbag buddy. How on earth did a movie star make their money off the back of a pensioner? Was it unfair that the pensioner didn’t get some government-mandated role in the film? The reason that these people are rich and successful is because people chose to go watch their films in the cinema and on streaming services because they were of high quality. People like you are the problem with the world. You envy those who work hard and have become successful because you’re stuck in whatever mundane job you work instead of using them as inspiration to pull your stock up and knuckle down. I will always have more sympathy for millionaires and billionaires if their house burns down than I would for envious little brats like yourself if yours did.
@Phillip Smyth: Empathy is objectively not limited. No one is saying you have to feel sorry for anyone, but it is possible to have empathy for many people. We don’t get a finite number of empathy points per day and have to choose who we use them on. Not an opinion to go back and forth on, just fact.
I feel bad for Anthony Hopkins.
@Fergus O’Donnell: I feel bad for everyone it’s happened to but the likes of Hopkins probably has multiple houses, unlike the ordinary folks’ whose homes are gone and the whole communities that have been destroyed.
@Dermot Blaine: Those famous names are probably the best insured and able to recover, but there’s a bit more to it than money for them. Like what Billy Crystal is talking about regarding memories living in the home for 46 years, or in a previous fire season the guy that lost a rare car collection had been building up over 50 years.
Would tend to have a lot more sympathy for those ordinary types who have been finding getting fire insurance ever-increasingly difficult over the years of these events happening more frequently.
A lot more sympathy for the families and friends of the first responders that keep putting their lives on the lines.
@Dermot Blaine: don’t feel bad for this guy but there are thousands of impoverished people living in tents in California, multiple fires in tents ever week trying to keep warm, this is the California that they don’t want you to know about
@peter hopkins: The fact that the term ‘skid row’ has been around for o long, that a metal band used it as their name back in 1988 is quite telling. That some seem to be more concerned about changing the nomenclature of it, rather than solving it, is saddening.
@peter hopkins: yeah, there’s a shockingly bad homeless and drug problem, especially in San Francisco.
That famous Irish invention known as begrudgery is on full display here today.
Meanwhile, all over Ireland persons unbeknown are sleeping on card board! Where is reporting on that? Has TheJournal offered warm meals or even a shelter ? And to ask for €2 a month. The journalists of TheJournal should watch film Paper Moon. Con artists
Journal have you shut this down in favor of multi millionaires and government censorship?
James Woods too. lol.
Would the people empathising with James Woods new homelessness status find equal empathy for the 40 to 180 thousand Gazans that the IDF have already killed in Gaza or the hundreds of thousands that face homelessness in Gaza from Zionist indiscriminate bombing of their homes. Is he proud to have urged the Israeli government to “kill them all ?”
@michael mcsharry: 180,000 people? Even Hamas isn’t claiming those numbers, you absolute clown. If you don’t want civilian infrastructure to be bombed, tell your buddies in Hamas to stop building their missile launching sites and command centres beside schools, hospitals and homes. Why hasn’t Hamas built a single bomb shelter in the entirety of Gaza in the 18 years that they’ve been in charge? Why don’t Hamas let civilians enter their underground tunnel system? In any case, the fact that James Woods had the courage to say that makes me respect him even more and have even more sympathy for what happened to his house.
@michael mcsharry: Jesus you and people like you are so boring. Parroting the same gick on so many comments sections. You complain about people not caring for Gazans but you and your ilk don’t care that you are antisemitic. Pathetic
Who cares there millionaires and the amount coverage getting . There are people in America leaving on streets what about them
Probably get huge insurance money back so they be ok can stay one other home s
All these celebrities are insured to the hilt, they will not loose out in the long run, they all choose to live in this part of the world known for earthquakes and wildfires. Let’s all calm down with the tears for them, they won’t go hungry or homeless, far more deserving people need help in this world
I’m very, very sad for the loss of their homes and property. Scitt happens.
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