Local authorities have this year extended the time that students could apply for higher education grants and are welcoming applications at the moment. The closing deadline is August 31, that gives people just six weeks to get all their information gathered.

In previous years student had to wait until August to apply for the grants. The result of this was large amount of applications being received at the one time and thus a backlog of students end up not getting their grant money on time and get into debt.

Last February’s figures from the Department of Education confirmed, regardless of the fact that it was already half way through the academic year, that 2,572 applications were yet to be processed. And, according to the USI, by February approximately 6,000 students had not received their first grant installments.

Application forms can be got from Cork City Council at 021 4924000 or Cork County Council at 021 4276891