county council ,anyone else stranded?

allthingsgreat

Hello there, I live in Dublin and work here too. I had to defer my year at college (would've been my third) because I was very sick.

Now I had been taken care of by the council in the past, as regards registration fees, which was all fine and dandy. But I rang today to be shouted at, asked why I rang and was asked not to ring again until I get a letter from them.

There are several hundred applications ahead of mine. And registration is tomorrow.

This is killing me, I hadn't expected this.

My mother can't help me, she doesn't have the kind of money. And 'm paying rent and living off what I earn to pay for food, transport, medical insurance etc.


Is anyone else in this predicament? If I had known all of this I would have made arrangements such as shopped in LIDL for my food instead of Tesco, not traveled home whenever I did and save the train fare etc.....

I'm completely at a loss right now.

Any advice appreciated

Pygmalion

I'd advise ringing up DCU and telling them, they might arrange something.

As far as I know you don't need to pay by tomorrow when you register, so just go ahead and register then see what they say about it, might be able to arrange something or look into it and see that you're waiting on a grant.

phasers

I'll second ringing them up, they'll tell you exactly what to do.

I'm sure this has happened to many students before, try not to get too stressed.

allthingsgreat

I was totally freaked out on the phone by the guy. He said they hadn't even turned a leaf on it. He estimated it would be november by the time i got even a letter. And he also said I would have to pay it myself. I'm thinking I could do instalments if it came to this, because I so very much want to go back to college.

I'm so worried now that they won't let it be easy for me. I've always had good experiences with DCU but a lot can change over a year and that's exactly the time I've spent not there!

I'm stressing thinking I should just put it all on my credit card (which I have never used, it's still in the envelope it came in.)

I feel really scared that the outcome won't be good with this

doylema3

I was in the same situation last year. I had to pay the fees (€900 at the time) but i got it all back by december.

i'd email the registry or the fees office. i am sure your not the first this has happened to.

quackisss

I'm Kind of in the same boat! My grant hasn't been approved yet but the people that I've talked to have said that I need to pay the fees just now and then if/when my grant is approved, I'll be reimbursed!

Since you've had your fees paid before that means you're probably a good candidate again so I would say your worst scenario is paying just now and waiting to be reimbursed sometime before Christmas!

Attol

Probably not an ideal solution but if you're really stuck BOI do interest free student loans of up to 2,000 euros( I think it's the max amount, not sure). I've gotten one every year for my registration fees and paid it back in pieces as I was working through the academic year. If you're with BOI you can pop in and ask them. You'll need your parents to undersign it but that's no biggy, as long as you pay back the loan on time which shouldn't be an issue if you'll be getting your grant anyway. It has to be paid back within 9 months. I think AIB do something similar.