COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, June 13, 2011
QUESTION NO. 23
QUESTION: Councillor D. Looney
To ask the Manager to provide a final report on the Higher Education Grants Scheme for the academic year 2010-2011 following on from my question to the February Council meeting and on the proposed changes to the administration and staffing of the system in the 2011-2012 and the 2012-2013 academic years in light of the Student Support Act and move to centralised processing?
REPLY:
South Dublin County Council received a total of 1823 applications for Higher Education Grants in the 2010/2011 academic year. The breakdown is as follows:
Application Statistics
2010/2011
| New | Renewals | Forwarded to other LA | Ineligible |
| 884 | 939 | 147 | 398 |
· A total of 1267* students were awarded a Grant
Financial Position (Sep 2010 – May 2011
| 1st Main | 2nd Main | 3rd Main | Special Main | Fees | Total |
| €494,216 | €783,389 | €687,990 | €546,376 | €2,600,992 | €5.1m |
All money is fully recoupable from the Department of Education and Skills.
The EFT method of payment to students which was introduced in the 2009/2010 academic year is working to the satisfaction of the Local Authorities, Colleges and Students Union alike. Since the introduction of the Electronic Funds Transfer the second and third maintenance payments are dependent on the return of ongoing student registration verification files from each institution. Subject to satisfactory verification of students’ attendance by the colleges, all payment are processed and transferred to students’ bank accounts within ten days. This method gives greater clarity as to when grants will be paid as the agreed dates are Countywide. It relieves pressure on College administration offices and gives students instant access to funds when transferred directly to their bank accounts.
Although internal systems continue to be reviewed to identify gaps in the current practices the process remains quite laborious, requiring staff to identify on a case by case basis if all appropriate documentation has been submitted, contacting students by phone, letter and SMS to follow up applications, and dealing with individual applications where circumstances are unique. In the 2010/2011 year it is estimated that approximately 40% of all applications submitted were incomplete (i.e., did not contain all required documentation on first appraisal), and required follow up.
In conjunction with the Working Group comprising of the Four Dublin Authorities and a selection of rural Authorities, South Dublin County Council have entered into agreement to accept online application from first time applicants for the coming year and this facility which requires a small amount of technical adjustment to the current in house programme should be available shortly.
Student Support Act 2011
Student Support Act 2011 was signed into law on 2nd February 2011. Under its terms, four types of student grant will be replaced by one, with one agency to administer it. At present, 66 agencies, made up equally of Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and local authorities, handle student grants. The current grant schemes are
· the higher education scheme for the university sector;
· the third-level maintenance grant scheme for trainees and students at levels six and seven in institutes of technology;
· the VEC scholarship scheme; and
· the maintenance scheme for students attending post-Leaving Certificate courses, which are mostly run by the Further Education and Training Awards Council.
Any recommendations, enhancements or changes to the Scheme as a result of the recent passing of the Act are being implemented by South Dublin County Council.
Single Agency System
The Minister for Education announced in April 2011that the CDVEC has been chosen as the single awarding authority for student grants. However as it will not be fully operational as a single system until 2012/2013 South Dublin County Council will continue to accept applications in similar fashion to previous years meaning that there will be no change to administration and staffing for at least the following 12 months.
When the single agency system is up and running South Dublin County Council will still have an obligation to process renewal applications for those students who initially made application to us on a wind - down basis and will require to have administration and staff in place for at least 3 years following the changeover expected in September 2012. As the amount of processing will obviously decrease the Council will review staffing requirements and when / if necessary make reassignments to other areas of need in an on-going effort to combat staff shortages due to the current staff embargo and to uphold its commitments under the Croke Park Agreement.
The HEG Section will continue to monitor performance and appraise in- house processing to enhance the current system.
*a small number of applications remain open awaiting documentation/clarification and there are some cases awaiting the decision of appeals made to the Department.