Susi want money back!

Flora12

Hey all, wondering if anyone has any advice or experience of the following. I am almost at the end of my degree and the past 2 years susi has paid my fees and student contribution.. then yesterday I get a letter saying that actually im only entitled to 50% of student contribution per year.... which means I owe them over 3 grand!! I do not have money to pay it back and am a mature student/single parent... If I had known I would be liable for these fees I would have reassessed doing the degree and gone another route....Why did they not let me know this 2 years ago!! I have been on to them and they said fill in appeal form blah,blah... anyone any dealings with them in regards to this kind of thing?

Thanks

Hollister11

Alot of information, from a similar issue in this thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057122201

vandeman

My wife got a letter saying she was only entitled to 50% fees for 2012/13 and she would have to repay. SUSI are some joke i rang and they couldnt tell why she was not entitled to the 100% fees !

Flora12

vandeman wrote: »

My wife got a letter saying she was only entitled to 50% fees for 2012/13 and she would have to repay. SUSI are some joke i rang and they couldnt tell why she was not entitled to the 100% fees !

Has she appealed the decision/paid anything back?its a stupid system since the people who apply can't afford the fees in the first place what makes them think they can come after you for the money after they have paid it and you will suddenly be able to afford it..

vandeman

Flora12 wrote: »

Has she appealed the decision/paid anything back?its a stupid system since the people who apply can't afford the fees in the first place what makes them think they can come after you for the money after they have paid it and you will suddenly be able to afford it..

She has to appeal it. They are some joke !

pmrc

Flora12 wrote: »

Hey all, wondering if anyone has any advice or experience of the following. I am almost at the end of my degree and the past 2 years susi has paid my fees and student contribution.. then yesterday I get a letter saying that actually im only entitled to 50% of student contribution per year.... which means I owe them over 3 grand!! I do not have money to pay it back and am a mature student/single parent... If I had known I would be liable for these fees I would have reassessed doing the degree and gone another route....Why did they not let me know this 2 years ago!! I have been on to them and they said fill in appeal form blah,blah... anyone any dealings with them in regards to this kind of thing?

Thanks

I got the same letter today
I am appealing the decision, I am an mature student on back to education with 3 children

pmrc

Flora12 wrote: »

Hey all, wondering if anyone has any advice or experience of the following. I am almost at the end of my degree and the past 2 years susi has paid my fees and student contribution.. then yesterday I get a letter saying that actually im only entitled to 50% of student contribution per year.... which means I owe them over 3 grand!! I do not have money to pay it back and am a mature student/single parent... If I had known I would be liable for these fees I would have reassessed doing the degree and gone another route....Why did they not let me know this 2 years ago!! I have been on to them and they said fill in appeal form blah,blah... anyone any dealings with them in regards to this kind of thing?

Thanks

I got the same letter today
I am appealing the decision, I am an mature student on back to education with 3 children

they wen t back 3 year for me 2012, 2013, 2014

pmrc

Flora12 wrote: »

Hey all, wondering if anyone has any advice or experience of the following. I am almost at the end of my degree and the past 2 years susi has paid my fees and student contribution.. then yesterday I get a letter saying that actually im only entitled to 50% of student contribution per year.... which means I owe them over 3 grand!! I do not have money to pay it back and am a mature student/single parent... If I had known I would be liable for these fees I would have reassessed doing the degree and gone another route....Why did they not let me know this 2 years ago!! I have been on to them and they said fill in appeal form blah,blah... anyone any dealings with them in regards to this kind of thing?

Thanks

I got the same letter today
I am appealing the decision, I am an mature student on back to education with 3 children

they wen t back 3 year for me 2012, 2013, 2014

They refused to tell me why I was not entitled to full fees only that there is about 150 people in the same position and to appeal it

Flora12

I was told the same when I phoned up could not give me any details as to why I am not entitled or why they have not mentioned it up until now as I am about to finish my course! I don't understand how they think people on btea can afford to pay contribution or fees...have you submitted your appeal yet? I'm not sure what to say in mine other than the obvious that I cant afford it!!!

pmrc

yes Flora ,

I just printed of the appeal form and stated that I was appealing the results of the audit,
I did not sent any documents as I do not know what they want

phonypony

I got the same letter last week. I really can't understand how they take months and months to come to a decision on your level of assistance, then a 'review' two years later says they made a mistake. I don't know on what grounds to appeal, so I'm not sure what to do, they can't get blood from a stone...

MarkSuckATurd

I have received the same letter for 2 years 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, I have spoken to the finance officer in my college and as far as she is concerned the college has already got their money and there is no way they will be giving SUSI back a penny. I never received any money in the first place it always went straight to the college. If I knew I would have to pay thousands of Euro to go to college I more than likely wouldn't have went at all.

Flora12

I am in same boat, they paid fees & contribution directly to college, have you appealed the letter? Did they want student contribution back from you? or was it your fees?

Sup08

Has anyone contacted SUSI to request how they came to the conclusion that they made a mistake?

Flora12

Yea I contacted them and was told they didn't have the details of how I was assessed to hand and to submit appeal and ask for a copy of the financials they used to assess me... sent my appeal on Thursday so will let you all know what they say..

Flora12

and that they came to the conclusion that they had overpaid as an internal audit had been carried out...felt like telling them not my problem, if they had correctly assessed me at the beginning would not run into these problems of overpayment....

bri007

That's ridiculous, surely it's susi problem as they made the error!

It has me worried now, I'm half way through my degree, I get fees paid and a grant.

I get reassessed each year, so hopefully they won't pull anything like this on me at the end of my degree!

I have got a part time job which I am not considering not taking, as I am fearful it may interfere with my grant! Especially if they are carrying on like this with taking peoples grants back !

Worrying to say the least!

Flora12

Yea I hope it all goes smoothly for you for the rest of your degree... TBH I was re-assessed each year also (as in I had to fill in a form stating that my circumstances had not changed and I was continuing with the course) and I received confirmation each year stating I was still entitled to what I had been awarded the previous year (i.e. what they paid fees & 100% contribution) I would be very careful with working part-time make sure you know how it might affect the grant... it is a complete joke, Ill see what they come back with... would be great if I just don't hear from them again...although I somehow don't think that will be the end of it....

bri007

Fingers crossed you get it sorted out. Maybe contact a td aswel about it,I know probably won't be able to do much but it may do something! Sorry to hear about that you must be stressed out with all the unneacessary worry

Flora12

So... an update on my op..after appealing to Susi they denied my request as they said that for the year 2013/2014 I exceeded the threshold even though my circumstances had not changed from the previous year and I had been entitled to 100% of fees and contribution. I asked them had the threshold changed then? they could not comment on that but could only tell me I was now only entitled to 50%.... After many phone calls and letters with Susi I got nowhere... nobody would tell me why I was no longer entitled or why they left it until the end of my degree to inform me of this... I feel the whole department is a shambles and they pick and choose the threshold as they please... I then received a letter from my college informing me I would not be able to receive my degree until I paid the remainder of the fees... I have now taken out a loan to repay fees as I was left no choice if I didn't I would have wasted the past few years and not received any qualification! I don't mind having to pay fees it is just that I feel I was only told about them at the end of my course this I feel was really unfair... anyway a warning to those dealing with Susi make sure you know where you stand regarding fees for every year of your course as they won't keep you informed and you may be hit with a big bill in order to graduate!!

Annasopra

Maybe you could appeal it to the ombudsman if SUSI were definitely in the wrong?

onesome

how did you get on with Susi, got letter also saying they overpaid for 2012 2013 & 2014. Now they want money back, I appealed the first letter sent out and just got another letter with the overpayment rule ect. they made the mistake and now they come looking for money that is spent, how did you get on with them and did you have to pay back. Any advice would be helpful. What can they do if I dont pay back. If i had that kind of money i wouldnt have had to apply for grant in first place.

Sup08

onesome wrote: »

how did you get on with Susi, got letter also saying they overpaid for 2012 2013 & 2014. Now they want money back, I appealed the first letter sent out and just got another letter with the overpayment rule ect. they made the mistake and now they come looking for money that is spent, how did you get on with them and did you have to pay back. Any advice would be helpful. What can they do if I dont pay back. If i had that kind of money i wouldnt have had to apply for grant in first place.

Hi Onesome, unfortunately it is law with regard to the student grant scheme and student finance act regarding overpayments.
They [SUSI] can pursue the return/refund of overpayments and did try to right-off the errors of 2012 but a public accounts committee refused to allow SUSI to do this as the grants are from public funds.
When any student applies for a grant they should be aware of the terms of accepting such assistance and the acts do state the money can be recovered irrespective of who made the error.

onesome

Thanks for your reply. Any idea on how fair SUSI is on repaying this overpayment, this is for 3 years of the wrong maintenance how long do they give you to pay this back and please tell me they cant charge interest on this, as this was their error in first place. And it took them nearly 5 years to figure out their error. SUSI should have to take some sort of a hit on this mistake, the money is well spent.

Sup08

onesome wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Any idea on how fair SUSI is on repaying this overpayment, this is for 3 years of the wrong maintenance how long do they give you to pay this back and please tell me they cant charge interest on this, as this was their error in first place. And it took them nearly 5 years to figure out their error. SUSI should have to take some sort of a hit on this mistake, the money is well spent.

I wouldn't know of what terms SUSI would operate on the return of funds overpaid. I would also find it doubtful they would be charging interest on such refunds.

AFAIK, SUSI have yet to take any court action against anyone that has not returned or refused to pay back any overpayments. That's not to say they haven't started the process any such proceedings either.

Flora12

Hi

I had to pay the college the outstanding fees to be able to claim my degree. I think I received one more letter from Susi which I ignored and nothing since. It's absolutely disgusting that they will grant these funds to students and then try to get re-imbursed for their incompetence. Of course if we had the fees we would not be applying for these grants in the first place! Legally I'm not sure how far they could take it, it might be worth ringing the free legal advice number to get some information...best of luck

gregoirety12

I'm in a similar situation, basically SUSI had my address wrong for 3 years and I apparently should have been getting the adjacent rate in 2012, 2013 and 2014. I live about an hour from my college and never questioned getting the non-adjacent rate cause I was renting accommodation. Didn't know what way they were measuring the distance cause they never said first time around Anyway they sent me a letter in January looking for money back for those three years, I'm after appealing the decision and they've rejected the appeal. I'm complaining to the Ombudsman next week though so hopefully that'll work.. We'll see.

Sup08

gregoirety12 wrote: »

I'm in a similar situation, basically SUSI had my address wrong for 3 years and I apparently should have been getting the adjacent rate in 2012, 2013 and 2014. I live about an hour from my college and never questioned getting the non-adjacent rate cause I was renting accommodation. Didn't know what way they were measuring the distance cause they never said first time around Anyway they sent me a letter in January looking for money back for those three years, I'm after appealing the decision and they've rejected the appeal. I'm complaining to the Ombudsman next week though so hopefully that'll work.. We'll see.

Complaints to the Ombudsman will only be considered if they feel you were treated unfairly by SUSI and not whether your application was incorrect or not. You must appeal to the Student Grant Appeals Board to get a determination on your application.