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Case Study: Student sees education grant wrongly reduced after break from her course
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
Julie complained to the Ombudsman when it appeared that her education grant had been wrongly reduced after she returned from a break in her course. Julie had started a one-year Masters in University College Dublin (UCD) in September 2021. Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) awarded her a Postgraduate Tuition Fee grant of €6,270. These grants are paid directly to universities by SUSI to cover course fees. Julie completed the first term, then took a leave of absence for a year. Julie had contacted SUSI about the decision to defer her studies and was assured that the deferral would not
affect her grant.
When Julie returned to UCD a year later, she discovered that SUSI had awarded a smaller grant than she expected (€1,153 less). When Julie then complained to SUSI, she was informed that her grant had been cancelled. It later emerged that she had been wrongly informed about the cancellation but the reduced amount still stood. Julie was extremely worried about the reduction in the grant, missed several lectures as a result and considered quitting the course.
The situation remained unresolved and Julie submitted her thesis at the end of the course with the remaining grant still not paid. Julie was very concerned that she would not be able to graduate with her class because of the outstanding fees.
In its response to the Ombudsman, SUSI said that UCD had invoiced it for less than Julie’s eligible fees in the academic year 2021-22. While it was unable to confirm the reason for this, it explained that SUSI can only pay the amount that has been invoiced from UCD. However, having considered all the circumstances, the Ombudsman asked SUSI to review the case.
SUSI then contacted UCD and requested an invoice for the outstanding fees owed. Julie received approval for the full grant and SUSI also apologised to her for the inaccurate information she had received.