15 January, 2013. Volume 20, Issue 08.
Assistance Fund reopened as food vouchers are distributed to struggling students Stephen Barry
T
he UCC Studentsâ Union has had to provide food vouchers for students suffering from the continuing delay in payment from the new SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) system. âIn the region of 25 to 30 students weekly will be taking it up weekly and thatâs only from this weekâ said Welfare Officer Dave Carey of the âŹ20 supermarket vouchers after an e-mail was circulated to all students on Monday to alert them to the scheme. In light of this nationwide crisis, Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn announced that a supplementary allocation of âŹ3 million has been allocated to the Student Assistance Fund, bringing the national fund to âŹ11 million. Of this extra funding, UCC students will receive almost âŹ250,000, bringing the total allocation to UCC to just shy of âŹ900,000. While the USI have appealed for an extra million euro for the fund for students in hardship, the allocation had meant that the application process has reopened for UCC students who have not been previously as-
sessed. âWeâre processing weekly,â Carey explains, âand thatâs done on a first come first served basis. We would have had just shy of âŹ650,000, now some of that was automatically allocated to the UCC Plus section and the rest
However SUSI continues to provoke criticism of the governmentâs attempts to reform the public sector. The grant delays have caused a crisis nationally for affected students with the USI estimating that 5,500 students (28% of
was open to everybody. That dried up in five weeks, so we were lucky that we get to reopen it, but I wouldnât be expecting it to last a huge amount of time.â Ninety applications which were accepted before funding ran out will be the first to benefit from this measure.
successful applicants) are awaiting payment. However SUSI claimed that while 1,500 students were due to be paid in the past week, over 3,000 students had still not provided bank details or confirmation of college registration. A further 12,000 have not supplied all of the
necessary documentation with 10,000 more having provided no supporting material. Such figures frustrate Carey: âItâs literally the exact same application form that itâs been every other year. The only difference is that itâs gone to the online system and that itâs gone to SUSI. Itâs not like the students h a v e suddenly become stupider this year; so I mean the only t h i n g that has changed is their system.â Plans are already emerging of the necessary changes to improve the system, which only took on first-time applications this year. Applications are likely to open earlier, sharing information with the Central Applications Office and the Revenue Commissioners will be
introduced, and it may become possible to submit scans, as opposed to the process of sending in documents which had to be scanned onto the online system anyway. But for Carey thereâs no end in sight: âI would imagine that it would be going into late March or early April and there will be people only getting their payments then.â As for UCC students, the college have been lenient with regard to the payment of fees but there have been serious financial implications in other ways. âI know of a few people before Christmas who were on the verge of dropping out, now I havenât heard anything from them since so I think there have been people who have left the college because of it. âItâs far more to do with general living. People who had budgeted that their grant was paying for their accommodation and theyâre now four months in the accommodation and they canât pay the landlord, and the landlord is doing this as a business. Or paying for their food on a weekly basis.â
save up to Washington st. 021 4274555 Wilton Mccurtain st. 021 450 6666 Douglas
021 454 6666 021 489 5577
T&C: *At regular menu prices with up to 3 toppings. **Up to 3 toppings & must be same or smaller size. Available Monday to Thursday only. Please mention offer when ordering. Present voucher at time of purchase. Only available with valid student ID. Not valid with any other offer. Valid for a limited time only & at participating stores. Collection or delivery. âŹ1 delivery charge per order. âŹ2 delivery charge per order after 12 midnight.