70,000 students receive grants in past two months

Almost 70,000 students have received grants in the first two months of starting back to college.

The figures from Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) represents progress on the time in which maintenance applications have been processed and paid.

The agency operating under City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB) had a shaky start in 2012 when students waited months to get paid. This was largely due to the rush to get it up and running, without adequate staffing or preparation time being allowed to SUSI by the Departments of Education or Public Expenditure and Reform.