Students in receipt of the SUSI grant will receive the once-off €250 coronavirus grant on December 18th into their registered bank account.
In an email sent to students who receive the SUSI grant, the SUSI Support Team explained that “in some cases, students will receive payment after this date”. However, “no action is required” if a student’s bank details are up to date.
All students in receipt of the grant will receive the emergency payment from SUSI.
Earlier this week, it was announced that nearly 200,000 full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students will be able to claim refunds and credit notes worth €250 as part of a government coronavirus payment scheme.
The once-off payments, worth a total of €50 million, will offer financial assistance to full-time third-level students in recognition of the upheaval they have experienced due to the pandemic.
Students who do not avail of the SUSI grant will be able to reduce any outstanding contribution fee payment by €250 or receive a €250 credit note for their institution. Non-EU students will not be eligible for the payments.
Harris initially announced the funding, which was announced as part of Budget 2021, last month. Details as to how the payments would be allocated were undecided at the time.
In a press statement last week about the €250 payment, Harris said: “The government is acutely conscious of the year this has been for third-level students. In March, colleges closed their doors and moved everything online.”
“The new academic year has also meant little or no on-campus time. Today’s scheme is a recognition of the financial challenges this has brought for many people and we hope it can go some way to compensating students for any equipment a student may have had to pay for – such as a desk, chair, or new laptop.”
“COVID-19 has disrupted all our lives but for young people, it has resulted in many missed moments and many key life experiences. Today is a chance to recognise that.”
Last month, a number of third-level stakeholders expressed disappointment over Budget 2021. Speaking to The University Times, Lorna Fitzpatrick, president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), said that the budget “goes some way to acknowledging the impact of COVID-19, and the financial situation that students and their families are in now, but it doesn’t recognise the longer-term financial pressures that students face”.
