Students urged to submit grant applications as deadline looms

The national student grant awarding body, SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland), is urging students who have yet to submit their applications for student grant funding for the 2015/2016 academic year to do so now. The deadline for applications is Saturday, August 1.

SUSI is currently in its fourth year of operations and opened its 2015/2016 online application system, for new and renewal student grants, on April 23. This was two weeks earlier than in 2014/2015, and to-date SUSI has received 85,000 applications.

“We are expecting to receive approximately 110,000 applications for the 2015/2016 academic year,' said Graham Doyle, Head of Communications and Customer Service with SUSI. 'We have received 85,000 applications to-date and we would urge students to apply before the deadline of August 1 to ensure that their applications receive priority.”

Mr. Doyle also has the following advice for students who have made applications: “After we receive online applications we write to students requesting supporting documentation. It is imperative that students get this requested documentation back to us within the specified timeframe otherwise there will be a delay in the processing of their applications.”

SUSI encourages students to visit its redesigned, and more user-friendly, website www.susi.ie to review information about the eligibility criteria for student grant funding, including its online ‘grant eligibility reckoner’ where the organisation claims, 'students can quickly and easily self-assess whether they may be entitled to grant'.

Students can also use a SUSI ‘online application tracker’, where they can track the progress of their application and confirm that SUSI has received their documentation without having to contact SUSI directly.