Student grants reform held up by legislation delay

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin is still awaiting the final draft of legislation to transfer the handling of all college grant applications to Vocational Education Committees (VECs) — 15 months after first announcing the plans.

The VECs handle about two-thirds of the 60,000 applications for maintenance grants, but will take over the remainder from local councils when the Student Support Bill is passed.

Ms Hanafin first announced the selection of VECs to run the schemes in June last year, and planned to introduce the necessary laws in time for students applying for grants this summer. The statutory scheme will mean each VEC must process applications by a target date every year.