Single body to deal with student grants

PLANS to set up a single student grant scheme with the aim of making quicker and more efficient payments were announced yesterday by Education Minister Mary Hanafin.

But the Union of Students in Ireland has warned that as long as local agencies are involved this proposal will fail.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin announced yesterday that the four schemes available to qualifying college students are to be unified, and a single agency will operate the new scheme. She said that under this system, students who applied by the end of May each year would have a decision within three weeks and payments would be made in the first month of the college year.