Minister announces overhaul of student grant system

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn today announced that a single student grant awarding authority is to replace the existing 66 bodies.

The new system will come into effect for the 2012/13 academic year.

This landmark decision reforms a student grant system that has been in operation in the State since 1968 and it will gradually replace the existing 66 VEC and local authority grant awarding bodies.

The City of Dublin VEC will operate as the new centralised authority following a competitive process carried by an independent selection panel. Minister Quinn will formally designate the CDVEC following agreement on implementation with his Department.

The single grant authority will operate on a transitional basis, accepting all new applications from 2012.

For this year, 2011, students will still apply to their local authorities or VECs for a grant and these bodies will continue to deal with renewal of existing grants on a wind-down basis over three to four years.

It also represents a development in meeting the objectives set out in the action plan for the education sector on the Croke Park Agreement.

Minister Quinn said he has strongly supported student calls to overhaul the student grants system.

“While I am grateful to the VECs and local authorities currently operating the student grant function, the system is clearly overloaded resulting in late outcomes to applications and late payments for students,” said Minister Quinn.

“I have said many times that this is not good enough. I expect the single authority to address these issues delivering a very significant service enhancement to students,” he concluded.

Gary Redmond, President of USI, offered his congratulations to the CDVEC.

He said that the enactment of the Student Support Act earlier this year was a critical milestone on the road towards equity of access to education in this country.

Mr. Redmond said that, while the move to a single grant awarding agency is a much welcomed development given the obvious cost saving benefits associated with centralisation of responsibilities, the priority for this new agency has to be the students who depend on the prompt arrival of grants.