The media are still buying the ‘spin’ about incomplete applications, the documents were requested by post initially 2-3 months after the online application and were vague, it was guesswork what exactly they wanted, ‘proof of residence for example, and no explanation as to what document they would accept. Then lots of repeat requests for the same document ( presumably the first 2-3 were lost). Emails never replied to (35 sent, 35 unreplied to). Three recorded delivery letters not answered. SUSI HELPDESK not answering calls( 6 hours of phoning calls and being left in the queue) and then staff not permitted to speak to other internal departments so nothing can be clarified and sorted out. The article does not mention how many appeals are outstanding as of today, due to wrong calculations. The people who go to Uni are capable of form – filling, they are literate, yet SUSI is still getting away with blaming the applicants. I’m still awaiting payment. I applied in June. I think the media should interview a few students to get the other side of the story. This article does not tell it like it is. People have had to leave Uni due to lack of funds.

why did susi have to make it so difficult to fill in the forms, hassle for students and susi staff. no trust anymore between the public and govt bodies, one form from revenue showing earnings should have sufficed.

This system was such a disaster, I know people who are not in college now because of the incompetence of the people in charge of the grant application scheme, and others who are in debt as well, but when people do hear back from susi, they are told that their application is incomplete, yet looking at the form itself, proves otherwise, or they do get the grant, but only get 25% of what they should get and then they have to resend the same documents again to resolve the issue. I doubt this level of stupidity is actually possible (even for this government), it is like they don’t want people to get an education.

Hi Brian, from my experience most are probably NOT submitting incomplete documents. In my experience with SUSI they:
(1) asked for and received proof of address three times. All of this by post to my residence, refused to accept a sworn statement from the local Garda.
(2) Impossible to get through to on the phone, “helpdesk”.
(3) Insisted on my wife’s P45 even though she is still in full time employment.
(4) asked me for a letter from my employer re my wages even though I have been unemployed for the past two years.
(5) most recently after all documents were submitted have now returned looking for “additional information” which they could have asked for at the start.
I am in a class with seven adults (age 40 plus) and six post leaving cert students. Only two have received their grant. One of them only after her husband wrote to Minister Quinn and threatened to go on hunger strike outside of the Dail! Our Course Coordinator receives regular emails to confirm that a certain student has been approved for a grant yet no one knows who or where this person is? On the plus side I have found that SUSI respond very quickly to emails. Unfortunately something is rotten in the State of SUSI.

students are not submitting incomplete application forms…susi will keep asking for more and more documentation before they give the grant..its almost as if they dont want students to get the grant..i heard of few cases where susi actually admitted that they lost some students documentation forms which is a disgrace

I work with teens and during the summer helped fill out the susi forms.

While it does take a few mins to get your head around it, they are not that hard to fill out, at each question there are 2 symbols, one for info on how to answer the Q and the second on what documents you need to send.
Back many (many) years ago, I had to fill out my own grant form, yes by hand (!) and refer back to a very crap info booklet, and also had to wreck the old pairs heads to get their accounts, bank statements, p60 etc. Also, my first grant didn’t arrive til the December, and was always late when I tried to collect it!!!
I found there was either a lazy attitude of filling the form (as close to the deadline as possible!), or a deep mistrust of parents when p60, bank statements were asked for, and the answer back was usually “if they write back/ring we will send them in”!!

There is a issue with the system, but it is not wholly and fully to blame!

Here we go again. Just like social welfare forms. Make as difficult as possible and reject alot of them for the sole reason of creating more paperwork to justify the number of people it takes to process claim.

I was awarded ?135 per month from susi. I appealed this because my parents income was below ?19, 000 in 2011. It was lower again in 2012. They refused me and sent me back a letter which my parents or I could not understand. They tried to say we were earning ?21, 000. I was given the choice to appeal again but I refused. There is a page on the appeal form that you must explain why you feel you need a higher grant. This was a load of bollix.

There are people out there getting more and spending it on stupid things while others are scraping there wallets each week for there basic needs. The whole system is a joke and forms aren’t being processed properly.

Incomplete……but surely a college student would be able to complete a form…………unless…..

“News just in!”…..21k arts places in UCD empty”……….

Same old story to many people for the work that’s needed at public level.i will probably get some thumb downs for this,susi are trying to keep themselves in work can you blame them in this economy,the people responsible are at the top as always sitting on there gravy train.

Direct complaints here since the official page doesn’t allow people to post on their wall. Hopefully it will gain some attention.
https://www.facebook.com/SusiComplaintsUnofficial?fref=ts

My own application was provisionally accepted in December only to be told a week later I was told it was filled out in correctly. I am certain I followed the instructions correctly but now I have to start the whole process again from the start. After 5 and a half months of waiting and multiple phone calls I am convinced that they are throwing away applications to clear the backlog and telling people to apply again to buy themselves more time.

My daughters documents have been misplaced – they are in the mailing room but unfortunately cannot be found, After many weeks of searching in the mail room, she was asked to re- submit them again last week.
There are many data protection implications here, information pertaining to my daughter, my husband, my husbands company and my information have all been misplaced; this has to have breached the Data Protection Acts but yet again no one is being held accountable or responsible.

And giving that the people who managed SUSI have made a complete hash of it are they still to be left run this next year – what sanction is to be imposed on them???
SUSI has caused alot of unnecessary stress to many families and individuals; left some students with no option but to leave their courses and put 3rd level institutes under even more finanical pressure.

We were told my daughters application was incomplete but this was only because her documents were in their black hole of a mailing room. Worse still if I hadn’t sent the information myself, I might be blaiming her for the mess that has been made – this country is gone done the tubes completely. We need to demand and get higher standards.

Feel free to voice complaints here and hopefully the page will gain momentum and eventually some notice will be taken.
https://www.facebook.com/SusiComplaintsUnofficial?fref=ts

Hey Kids! Instead of waiting around for your free money, why not get a job or borrow the money? I didn’t get no handouts to go to college, I borrowed fees from the bank every year and worked 20hrs a week through my 4yr degree to pay back the loan! It was tough but It made me work and push myself a lot harder known I was investing my own money into this!

Why are so students submitting incomplete applications? Surely this is the source of the problem?