Estranged students still waiting on college grants

Dozens of students are still awaiting a decision on college grants, having failed to satisfy the awarding body they are estranged from their parents.

Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) has taken evidence from charity groups to verify some claims where grant applicants say they are not dependent on family.

SUSI customer service manager Graham Doyle told the Oireachtas education committee that 170 of the 103,000 applications for the 2014/15 college year involved estrangement claims. Almost half have received a grant and 10 refused, but work is continuing with the remainder.

“We do take evidence such as a court order that would indicate somebody is estranged from their parents. We take things like a Garda incident report that shows a minor has had to be removed from a house, or a letter from the HSE from a social worker,” he said.

“However, the reality often is that they have none of those, so one thing we have done is to meet with [Child and Family Agency] Tusla ourselves. We have taken evidence from St Vincent de Paul... where they can confirm that an applicant is irreconcilably estranged from their parents and that there is a history of that.”

Mr Doyle was responding to Jonathan O’Brien (SF) who said the proof needed around estrangement was one of the biggest subject of complaints. “We have a situation where people are providing evidence from the Department of Social Protection and being told that’s not adequate, they need additional evidence,” he said.

Jim Daly (FG) said discretion should be allowed when assessing people against income limits. He said it was bizarre that the child of somebody earning €39,000 qualifies for one level of support, but if they are on €40,000 they get much less.

SUSI grants processing manager Seamus de Faoite said 282 applicants this year had an income €50 either side of a cut-off for grants, payable at five levels, depending on income. Fewer than 60 of them got the lower payment but just five lost out on any support.

Department of Education principal officer Brian Power said people will always be on the margin, no matter what thresholds are set, but the issue was being considered in a review.