Susi bosses claim reforms should speed up grants to students
After difficulty getting staff before start-up a year ago, the sub-unit of City of Dublin Education and Training Board came in for huge criticism over communication problems, decision errors and payment delays. More than one third of eventual grant recipients had not had payments by Christmas, and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn was forced to apologise.
Susi opened applications in mid-May, a month earlier than last year, and around 42,000 new applications and 23,000 renewals have been received. Up to 1,400 applications a day were arriving last week, but around 30,000 more are likely to be submitted by new and returning students.
