Improvements lead to earlier application dates for grants

Students could have earlier decisions on applications for college grants this year as a result of improvements to the €375m scheme.

Among these are the earlier opening date to apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi), which has been accepting details online since April 5. Last year, students could not apply until late April.

By the middle of last week, over 47,500 applications were received, including 21,500 from first-time applicants. The remainder were from those who had a grant in the past college year.