Housing Crisis Read our special report on Galway’s current Housing Crisis 4 – 5
Easy Recipes
Socs Day See plenty of photos from Socs Day – look out for your friends.
Mammy's not cooking this week! 23
28
Grant applications still open to students seeking financial aid By Mark Laherty
“The concerns that the residents have made will be closely monitored by the disciplinary officer in the university and any anti-social behaviour will be sanctioned accordingly. We have no choice now. There is a shortage of houses and the only way to fix that is more purpose-built student accommodation,” Mr Kelly said. The controversy comes at a time when Galway City is experiencing its worst housing crisis in living memory; with 25,000 returning university students competing for accommodation, the number of available bed spaces in the city has contracted by half since September of last year. The scarcity is being blamed on an increased amount of senior students and professionals opting to stay on in properties leased within the past year, a climbing rate of urbanization in Galway County as the national economy shows signs of recovery and the total number of students residing in the city being up by 18 percent since 2008.
Students struggling to meet the costs of education for the duration of their course can still apply for a SUSI grant via susi.ie. This support includes a grant to cover all or part of the €3,000 annual registration charge. Applications to SUSI are still open, although the deadline for ‘priority’ treatment has passed. The official website at susi.ie allows students to self-assess using their ‘eligibility reckoner’. Although the reckoner is helpful, the website stresses that it provides only “an approximate indication of your possible eligibility… Your actual eligibility for a student grant can only be determined on the basis of your formal application”. There are several criteria for eligibility. You must be Irish, from the EU or EEA (European Economic Area) or have specific leave to remain in the State. You must have been a resident of the EU/EAA or Switzerland for three of the last five years, although if you were a resident outside of Ireland, you may still receive the student contribution (fees element), but might not be eligible for a maintenance grant. You must be progressing in education. Leaving Certificate students going to college for the first time would be progressing because they are increasing their National Framework of Qualification (NFQ) level. However, you would be ineligible for funding to do another course at the same level. For example, if you have to repeat a year, you are not eligible. SUSI only provides funding for approved courses in approved institutions. Generally, courses have to be full-time to be approved. For the 2015-16, academic year, SUSI will assess an application with reference to income earned in 2014. Whose income is calculated depends on a number of different factors, including which class of applicant you are, dependent or independent. Be sure to apply under the right class, or your application will be cancelled and you will need to apply again. After an online application is received by SUSI, an initial assessment is carried out to determine what documentation is required to support the application. It is important to provide all of the requested documentation in a timely manner. The amount of documentation required by SUSI has decreased significantly since it first came into operation. So far, SUSI has been making better progress than last year in processing applications. The day after the Central Applications Office (CAO) offered college places, SUSI had decided just under half of the 97,500 applications received, compared to less than a third at the same time in 2014.
Continued on page 4
Continued on page 2
FREE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | VOL 17, ISSUE 01 | 15 SEPT 2015
New 400-bed student village in the pipeline for university
USI recently launched a website that links house-hunting students with landlords willing to rent to students. Read more about homes.usi.ie in our special housing crisis report on pages 4 and 5.
NUI Galway plans new student housing to ease accommodation crisis By Odhrán Donovan NUI Galway has submitted a planning application to the city council to build additional student accommodation on campus. The new development is expected to be constructed parallel to the Upper Newcastle Road, extending the existing Corrib Village’s capacity by some 400 students. The complex is expected to consist of seven housing blocks, containing a total of approximately 429 en-suite bedrooms and several communal living quarters. Of the seven housing blocks one is planned to rise to five-storeys high, three to four-storeys high and the remaining number to three-storeys high.
The university’s latest request to local authorities is a revision of an earlier plan rejected by residents living along the Upper Newcastle Road. A group identifying themselves as the “Concerned Newcastle Residents” voiced concerns relating to the proposal, arguing that such an extension would potentially cause an increase in noise pollution and anti-social behaviour in the area. A number of people living in the adjacent Fairlands and Greenfields estates also objected to the plans, citing that such a development would have a negative impact on the availability of parking spaces. NUI Galway has moderated their initial submission in response, reducing the planned height of the apartments located closest to the affected housing along the Newcastle Road, as well as increasing the size of the green-area between the three-storey blocks and the site’s perimeter. Students’ Union President Phelim Kelly attempted to ease any reservations Newcastle residents may hold relating to the development.