VEC members lash out at SUSI ‘fiasco’

FIRST year third level students are unable to pay their college fees and are being forced to drop out of college because of the ‘fiasco’ in the new grant application system, it has been claimed.
While all the third level grants for second, third and fourth year students have been successfully administered by Mayo VEC, hundreds of first year students who applied under the new Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) are still waiting for the applications to be processed.
SUSI is the new single grant-awarding authority administered by City of Dublin VEC but was described as a ‘fiasco’ and a ‘farce’ by members of Mayo VEC. The issue was raised at last week’s VEC meeting by Westport Fine Gael councillor, Christy Hyland who said the lessons of the medical card ‘fiasco’ was not learned when the Department of Education decided to centralise the grant application system.
“We all talk about efficiency and the buzzwords of accountability but they have made a mess of it. There was nothing wrong with the old system. Staff was lost here [Mayo VEC] due to downsizing but they still rose to the challenge when there were difficulties. Why fix something when it is not broke. You would not see it in a banana Republic. Have we learned noting from the medical card fiasco?” Cllr Hyland asked.
He added that he knew of students who were preparing for exams who were unable to use the University library because they could not pay the fees as they waited for the grant.
Independent councillor Mary Kelly was also critical of SUSI and described the extra documentation required from the students as a ‘stalling tactic’.
While the VEC members admitted the old system was not perfect, they praised the work of the local staff when dealing with the public and in explaining to students what they needed. Cllr Kelly said she was informed by the student union in Sligo IT that the SUSI staff were no longer taking phonecalls.
Fifty additional staff had been taken on by SUSI to deal with the backlog but Cllr Kelly said she was aware of documents sent by students going missing and felt they were not trained or skilled for the job.
Fianna FΡil councillor Johnny O’Malley commented that Dr Katie Sweeney, the CEO of Mayo VEC had said ‘watch this space’ when they were discussing the new system and reflected ‘how correct she was’.
“The fix is a flop, end of story,“ he said. “The general public are entitled to know what a farce it is. People in the system are running around in circles.“
He said the decision to move the grant-awarding authority into one body was due to TD’s representations but Dr Sweeney said she believed it was due to the general policy of the centralisation of services. She said they were recently informed without any consultation that the Youth Officer will come under the authority of City of Dublin VEC.
She said they provided a ‘fabulous service’ in Mayo VEC and that staff went ‘beyond the call of duty’ to administer the grants. She said they have administered all the grant applications for the other students they are responsible for. Dr Sweeney added that she was not involved in SUSI but felt it needed to be ‘planned out well in advance’ for it to work well.
Pat Kilbane agreed with Cllr O’Malley citing the creation of the HSE and the abolition of the Health Boards as an example of how centralisation is not always the answer and felt the ‘jury was still out’ on the new Education Training Boards which will replace the VEC’s.
Achill councillor MicheΡl McNamara said the situation was an embarrassment and felt the drop out rate for first years will be a lot higher this year unless the situation was resolved. He called on the VEC to write to the Minister to ask him to provide a ‘hardship fund’ for students who need it.
The Chairman, Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said there was a case for centralisation but felt SUSI was not set up properly and agreed to write to the Minister.

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