Third-level grant delays leave local students facing hardship

Financially, this has been the toughest year of Ciaran Jennings' life. "It's been a case of Pot Noodles for dinner," said the fourth year Athlone IT student. "I was due to have paid my landlord about €1500 in rent for the first semester but I've only been able to pay him €750 so far. If he wasn't so understanding about the situation I don't know what I'd do." Ciaran - a Westport native completing a course in Sport and Hospitality management - is one of thousands of students who depend on the higher education grants administered by the VECs in each student's native county. Despite the fact that more than half of the college year is over, he said he still hasn't received his first grant payment from Mayo VEC. Furthermore, he said no explanation has been given for the delay. "For the first three years I got the grant without any problems, but this year I haven't heard anything," he said. "I don't know what's causing the delay. It's a ridiculous situation - I've just been left completely in the dark." He said if it wasn't for the income from his weekend job at an off-licence he wouldn't be able to remain in college. "If it wasn't for that job I'd definitely be gone," he remarked. The Athlone IT Students' Union is currently highlighting the difficulties Ciaran and a number of students face as a result of delays to the payment of their grants. "It is difficult to believe that we are three months from the end of the 2009-2010 academic year and still we have a large number of students awaiting their first grant payment," said Athlone IT Students' Union Deputy President, Louise Kane. "We are seeking an explanation from the VECs as to why this process is taking so long for students without so much as a solitary response." First year AIT student Nicola Hunter said she was being forced to move out of her rented accommodation in Athlone because she hadn't received her grant. "I'm going to have to move out this weekend because my grant hasn't come through and I can't afford to pay the rent," said Nicola on Friday last. She was preparing to move back to her native Mullingar and get a lift to and from college each day. Nicola said she applied for her third level maintenance grant in late August or early September but that she still had no idea when it would be paid. "It's been very difficult. I rang up the VEC two weeks ago was told that they're still processing my application," she said. Another of the students awaiting a grant is David Robinson who, like Nicola, is a Mullingar native who is in his first year of the Higher Certificate in Business course. David said he applied for the grant several months ago but recently learned that the application was incomplete and that further documentation would have to be submitted. Westmeath VEC stated this week that it was fully up to date in the processing of all grant applications. "All applications which were complete and submitted on time have been dealt with, and we dealt with a record number of applications this year," David McGreal of Westmeath VEC said this week. "We have written to students who are required to submit further information and documentation. In those cases, the ball is in the student's court." He added students who felt their application was not being dealt with in a proper or timely fashion were welcome to contact the VEC directly and discuss their case. "It's in our interest to help the student," he commented. Fr Shay Casey, chaplain at Athlone IT, said that, in his experience, Westmeath VEC had "most efficient and helpful" staff who "go out of their way" to provide information and assistance to students applying for grants. However, he said this was not the case with VECs in some other counties. "There are some VECs who are bordering on discourteous. Some have employed an agency to deal with phonecalls on their behalf. In those cases, you might as well be trying to get an answer from the Pentagon," he said. Fr Shay, who has made representations to VECs on behalf of students awaiting grants, said there were cases where students were "fobbed off" by VECs. "In one case in the south of the country I eventually had to get a question raised in the Dail by the student's local TD, because that was the only way we were able to find out the relevant information," he said. Athlone IT takes a very humane approach in cases where students experience financial difficulties, he said. "There's a myth that students have excesses of money and are going around drunk all the time. That's a load of rubbish as far as I'm concerned," said Fr Shay. "Some of those students who are just about getting by - who are hanging in by their fingernails - are often among our best students and are getting great results. That's why we fight for them."