Council confirm university grants will be paid

Council confirm university grants will be paid


Anton McNulty

THIRD level students waiting for the final instalment of their high level education grant will not have to wait any longer after Mayo County Council confirmed that they had sent the cheques to the respective universities yesterday (Monday) afternoon.
For the last number of weeks Mayo students have been going to the grant section of their university only to be told that their cheque had not arrived, despite cheques arriving from other councils and from Mayo VEC. Westport student Sarah McGreal, who is studying a Post Graduate Diploma in Education in NUI Galway told The Mayo News that many courses will be ending in the next week or two and the delay in getting grants was causing a lot of concern for students.
“We have not got any instalment from Mayo County Council since January when all the other Councils and VEC’s have put in their cheques. I phoned the Council on numerous occasions and I was told that the cheques were there but were waiting for the go ahead to release them. We were expecting to get them before Easter and a lot of students will be wrapping up in a week or two and a lot of students have rent to pay and other expenses. It is ridiculous that we are coming to the end of the month and we are still to be be paid,” she said.
When contacted by The Mayo News yesterday, a spokesperson for the Council confirmed that cheques had been released but could not give an explanation for the delay.
Mayo TD, John O’Mahony welcomed that announcement that the grants would be paid saying that the delays had been dragging on for too long.
“This news will come as a huge relief to all third level students. It’s a particularly traumatic time of the year in any event for students with exams looming but the stress of wondering would they receive their grants was an extra burden that they could have done without.”