Grant Delay & Money Stress

LegacyUser

Going unregged for this so please bear with me.

I am currently half way through a one year masters in Dublin and I am also currently getting very good grades. However iv been informed there are long delays processing the grants. Mine was submitted after the deadline but it was admin red tape else where that delayed me. Anyway I have nearly exhausted all my savings and I still have no grant letter, the bank wont give me a loan because I don't have a grant letter.

So my last hope is my local credit union back home in the west. I havent lived at home since before i left for college and i am worried that they wont give me a loan either as I have not been a steady saver with them. If they don't Im going to have to drop out of college i think because Im not going to be able to pay my second installment of fees. Im seiously considering thinking about going to a loan shark. I asked my course director to ask for an extension from the dean of graduate studies and i was refused. My mother asked our local politician to ask about my grant but she said theres delays which im already aware of but she didnt seem to be able to do anything about my application status?

I got a grant while i was undergrad as my mother is a widower and is dependant on social welfare. I was on casual and jobseekers allowance from october 2008 until september 2009 so i am fairly optimistic that i will get the grant again. I really do not want to drop out of this masters as i love it and i think i have found something I am happy doing, not to mention all the money i have invested in myself and paying for half the fees already. Im sick with worry and I don't know what else to do.

2manyconditions

worried_sick wrote: »

Going unregged for this so please bear with me.

I am currently half way through a one year masters in Dublin and I am also currently getting very good grades. However iv been informed there are long delays processing the grants. Mine was submitted after the deadline but it was admin red tape else where that delayed me. Anyway I have nearly exhausted all my savings and I still have no grant letter, the bank wont give me a loan because I don't have a grant letter.

So my last hope is my local credit union back home in the west. I havent lived at home since before i left for college and i am worried that they wont give me a loan either as I have not been a steady saver with them. If they don't Im going to have to drop out of college i think because Im not going to be able to pay my second installment of fees. Im seiously considering thinking about going to a loan shark. I asked my course director to ask for an extension from the dean of graduate studies and i was refused. My mother asked our local politician to ask about my grant but she said theres delays which im already aware of but she didnt seem to be able to do anything about my application status?

I got a grant while i was undergrad as my mother is a widower and is dependant on social welfare. I was on casual and jobseekers allowance from october 2008 until september 2009 so i am fairly optimistic that i will get the grant again. I really do not want to drop out of this masters as i love it and i think i have found something I am happy doing, not to mention all the money i have invested in myself and paying for half the fees already. Im sick with worry and I don't know what else to do.

Write to your local councillor, write to the people that pay the grant, your local politician with everything you have written above. And call them constantly to push it through, you need the grant money - so let them know that - state how bad it is for you - that you may have to leave the course, that you are on the breadline.

Can the student union help you out until then or help with the application? Find out about the credit union first thing tomorrow at least find out. And when the money comes through start saving with them (just in case you need them again)

Don't get a loan shark, bad idea. Really bad idea.

Hope it comes through soon though.

piby

I was in a similar situation at the start of the year. I'm doing an MSc myself and the council grant pays for a good portion of the course so I needed it at the start of the year because naturally I needed to pay the fees. Anyway I was also told 6-8 weeks at least before I might even get the letter saying I had the grant, never mind any dosh. So I rang them up and hounded them telling them that if I didn't get it I wouldn't be in college!! So despite this so called 8 week delay the letter arrived with 4 days!

So call the council and don't take any of their 'we'll get back to you' or 'it's taking a while' rubbish and just keep pressing how urgent it is, even just the letter (Then you can apply for a bank loan until the grant money comes through). That said I'm very surprised that's now February and you haven't even got the letter yet?!! Can I ask how late you were in applying?!

LegacyUser

Go to the Welfare officer in you're college and ask if they have a student assistant fund you could apply for, most colleges do

sunnyside

Go to the County Council grant office in person and refuse to leave without the letter. Ring Joe Duffy... and explain that the last thing Biffo needs is yet another educated person joining the dole queue.

2manyconditions wrote: »

Don't get a loan shark, bad idea. Really bad idea.

.

Not something I've ever done so I can't advise but would it not be better to borrow at the really high interest rate short term than to loose the work and money you have already invested. Last option obviously but I doubt every single customer gets into trouble with moneylenders despite the bad reputation. I'd consider it too in your situation.

LegacyUser

2manyconditions wrote: »

Write to your local councillor, write to the people that pay the grant, your local politician with everything you have written above. And call them constantly to push it through, you need the grant money - so let them know that - state how bad it is for you - that you may have to leave the course, that you are on the breadline.

Can the student union help you out until then or help with the application? Find out about the credit union first thing tomorrow at least find out. And when the money comes through start saving with them (just in case you need them again)

Thanks, my mam is going to ring our councillor again tomorrow and shes going to go to another one in the area if theres no joy.

piby wrote: »

So call the council and don't take any of their 'we'll get back to you' or 'it's taking a while' rubbish and just keep pressing how urgent it is, even just the letter (Then you can apply for a bank loan until the grant money comes through). That said I'm very surprised that's now February and you haven't even got the letter yet?!! Can I ask how late you were in applying?!

Well i got accepted to the course alot later than the others so by the time i had applied through the official channels and got all the paperwork ready it was late Nov/Early Dec before i got it off to them.

lps wrote: »

Go to the Welfare officer in you're college and ask if they have a student assistant fund you could apply for, most colleges do

Thanks il look into that

sunnyside wrote: »

Go to the County Council grant office in person and refuse to leave without the letter. Ring Joe Duffy... and explain that the last thing Biffo needs is yet another educated person joining the dole queue.

Don't know if this kind of persistence works with the VEC but im sure its worth a shot I am getting fairly desperate, going to ring them tomorrow, have to fins out about also getting additional funds for a mandatory field course i have to do as part of my degree so i was told to apply because they have to give towards that too?since its compulsary?

LegacyUser

You could look for part time work in a bar or something.

Angus Og

Talk to the people in charge of your masters. They don't let people in to these courses just so they can be stymied by bureaucrats. If this affects your work, the college are going to want to know about it.