Castlebar College of Further Education (CCFE ) has welcomed the clarification by Student Grant Organisation SUZI to ease confusion in relation to August 1 not being the final cut-off closing date for grant applications. CCFE Director Tony Deffely has welcomed the clarification by SUZI that this is not a final cut-off date, that student grant applications will continue to be accepted after the August 1 deadline. He also welcomed their effort to ease confusion by stating that applications for Colleges of Further Education should not be confused with application of student grants.
Deffely said that there are two separate issues; applications for student grants to SUZI: ideally these should be made before August 1 but will continue to be accepted although the processing will be delayed and initial grant payments may come a bit later. Applications to CCFE and other further education colleges can continue to be made into September as long as there are places available. Should a student be accepted for one of those courses he/she can still apply to SUZI, after their initial deadline. A number of students who were applying to CCFE for FETAC Level 5 courses contacted us in a bit of a panic because they thought they might have missed the closing date for our college. This is not the case and CCFE wishes to emphasise that we will continue to take applications until such time as the courses are full in September. We raised the issue with SUZI and they were happy to clarify the position for us. The position is as follows, the applications which are received before August 1 will receive priority. Applications that are submitted after that will be dealt with but only after all the others have been administered. The reason CCFE is concerned is that some potential applicants believed that it was now too late to apply to us and be eligible for a grant in the coming year. This is not the case and CCFE wishes to emphasise that we will continue to take applications until such time as the courses are full in September. Those applications can be made online on the CCFE website.”
