Grant? anyone hear yet?

girlbiker

ontour wrote: »

I have applied four weeks ago tommorrow, haven't recieved anything in the post from them yet. Heres hoping I hear something this week. It really makes me wonder how long the people who are applying around now will have to wait.

Yes I know people who are only applying now, I tried to get my ass in gear and send it off early because I need the letter before registration, hope it pays off.

Anyway fingers crossed for everyone!

manutd4life

i sent mine in on wednesday to dublin co.co. and havent heard anything since

Sad Professor

Anyone hear anything back from South Dublin County Council yet?

billy the squid

Limerick City Council wont be sending out letters for a few weeks.

It is best to contact the fees office of your college if you have applied to this authority, the college I applied to (UL) said that if you applied for a grant and are likely to get it then you don't need to pay the 1500 euro, but you have to bring the letter to the fees office when it arrives.

bethm24

PLEASE can someone tell me this.

I am sending in my grant application and the person on the phone told me i would need an ESB bill OR Gas bill to prove my address. Obviously i dont have that as I dont own the house!!!!! she was horrible and said id have to go under my parents income. she didnt even ask me were my parents alive!!! ? What did other people do to prove address, why cant a letter from my landlord do? or a random letter? Ive lived independently for years!!! she said ONLY those type of bills (and ones since oct 2008!!!!) would suffice and nothing else!!!! im a mature student and now it looks like i cant go to college

Advice ?????

Sad Professor

bethm24 wrote:

PLEASE can someone tell me this.

I am sending in my grant application and the person on the phone told me i would need an ESB bill OR Gas bill to prove my address. Obviously i dont have that as I dont own the house!!!!! she was horrible and said id have to go under my parents income. she didnt even ask me were my parents alive!!! ? What did other people do to prove address, why cant a letter from my landlord do? or a random letter? Ive lived independently for years!!! she said ONLY those type of bills (and ones since oct 2008!!!!) would suffice and nothing else!!!! im a mature student and now it looks like i cant go to college

Advice ?????

Yeah, you need to provide proof of independent residence to be assessed as an independent candidate. They usually want a utility bill or a letter from the tenancy board. Do have a lease?

Lots of people run into difficulty here. It's really up to the authority whether they are willingly to accept anything else as proof. Random letters, as you say, from landlords aren't enough because they could easily be faked, I guess.

RoyalMarine

so what could someone do in this situation? surely they cant turf you out on just this.
what if someone was subletting, with no bill's in their name, no contract's with phone's etc.
just paying rent to their friend/landlord etc?

bethm24

this is silly. i live at the address . i dont live with my parents, i have not for years. the bills only go to the landlord. i contribute payment. i dont have bills in my name:( like they can call to the house and interview the landlord if they wish? but how would i go under my parents income (only my father, my mother is dead. he is poor!) if i dont live there? this country and its stupid rules piss me off. no i dont have a lease, i just pay the rent to the landlord. he lives in house too. he gives me rent reciepts. he thinks this is all rediculious that i need bills. :mad:

I wonder what i will do?!

billy the squid

TV licence? asked my authority if they would accept a TV licence as my ESB is pre-paid and they said yes.

bring the letter from the landlord as well, it might come in handy if they ask you for evendence of what rent you are paying.

bethm24

no , the tv licence is named with the landlord aswell . i have nothing really sufficent. i did a big clean up during the summer and shredded all things that i did have , things that are coming in for this year are no good , and my shredded documents are no good. i didnt expect to be going to college this year

KiLLeR CoUCh

bethm24 wrote: »

no , the tv licence is named with the landlord aswell . i have nothing really sufficent. i did a big clean up during the summer and shredded all things that i did have , things that are coming in for this year are no good , and my shredded documents are no good. i didnt expect to be going to college this year

A bank statement? Any tax documents with your address on them? I gave a credit card statement for mine because that's all I had.

Sad Professor

KiLLeR CoUCh wrote: »

A bank statement? Any tax documents with your address on them? I gave a credit card statement for mine because that's all I had.

Did they say they'd accept a bank statement? It's hardly proof of independent residence.

bethm24

Why would a bank statement not be sufficient? sure hardly someone gets there statements sent to an address they dont live at? i have statements but not for that time (oct 2008) . i dont like to leave those kind of things around, i had an incident once where someone tried to use my credit card number, which they obviously found in a bin or something. so since then i shred everything:mad:

RoyalMarine

bethm24 wrote: »

Why would a bank statement not be sufficient?

i think because everyone gets statements regardless.
when i lived at home i got them. my 18 year old brother gets them.

a utility bill such as esb or gas in YOUR name kinda shows you control the house as if it was your parents, then the bills would be in their name most likely.

Sad Professor

Yeah, the reason they want a utility bill is to see that you are independent. A bank statement doesn't prove this.

Tbh, bethm24, you are really at the mercy of the local authority. They don't have to accept anything else as proof if they don't want to, and that person you spoke to didn't sound very flexible. There's a few of stories from applicants on here who were rejected because they couldn't produce sufficient proof. I remember hearing someone on Liveline complaining about it as well not so long ago.

Get together as much documentation as you can (statements, anything with your address on it from last year, get them reissued if you have to), as well as proof of your father's address. Also try contacting your local councillor or TD, as RoyalMarineComm suggested on another thread, and see if they can help.

If all fails, get something in your name now (before October) and apply next year.

bethm24

ya they make you feel actually like a criminal and as if you are lying! its horrible! i didnt realise it was going to be this bad, i accepted the course late so have not had much time to prepare. closing date is monday :mad:if its all bad and i dont have enough evidence then its crazy cause i live there how else can ya prove it ! youd swear it was alot of money its only 3000 and something . yes the person on the phone was not a bit flexible so if she is the one assessing it then im not going to get it:(

Malgosia

Hi Bethm24, I know exactly how you're feeling. I spoke to person in County Council(on the phone) and she told me it has to be utility bill. I have the confirmation letter that I opened gas board account 27th of November 2008 but she said it has to be OCTOBER.I think I'll send them bank statements and all those gas bills from october.
Well, there is something else, I got the place in college for postgrad diploma but I'm not Irish-I finished 5 years studies at University in my country and the person on the phone asked me to translate all subjects which is 10 pages! I thought that certificate is enough I don't have enough time to complete all documents-do you think I should send them all what I have now and then send them the rest next week?
Thank you for your time
Malgosia

bethm24

Hi malgosia,

The best we can do is send in all of what we have and hope for the best. Some of the staff on the phone can be very narky, maybe they are very busy , but ive known people to get grant before who didn’t have all these exact information they say they are looking for. So hopefully we will be ok. Its like they don’t want people to get a grant because it is hard to have an ESB bill in your name when you don’t own the house! So to me that does not make sense that they will ONLY accept this!!!
Yes send them in all documents (your certificate) see what happens and if they need more, then you can send in the other stuff they require or whatever, To be honest I don’t think exam results is THE most important thing they look for when deciding if you should get the grant. You did them, you have evidence, not in the language they want , but what can you do about that, so just send it in, and wait and see, they might not even require anything else, hopefully it will be ok.

Verbal_Kint

I got a call from the office of a TD I contacted today and they told me the county council have processed my application and sent me a letter. they wouldnt tell the TD's office if I got it. I will hopefully know in the next couple of hours but they were telling the TDs office that I didnt prove residence even though I signed an affidavit and got the people I was living with to sign a letter saying we were all living there full time.

fingers crossed

ontour

Good Luck Verbal Kint, heres hoping you get good news:D. This grant worry really puts a damper on things :mad:

Sad Professor

SDCC just told me that I can expect to hear from them next week. Hopefully it's not a rejection letter. :pac:

christina_x

i got a lettter saying my application has been processed. They just need proof that i am going to college and that my older sister is going onto 4th year..
So much organisation!

bethm24

hope ye get it guys!!:)

bethm24

can someone that knows tell me what the affidavit must say?

arlone

bethm24 is your landlord registered? This from Galway county council.
If you are entering college for the first time in September, 2009, you will need to submit proof of your residence from 1st October, 2008 to date of application/September, 2009 (whichever is earliest). Proof of residence can include letter from the Private Residential Tenancies Board (P.R.T.B.) specifying period of tenancy, utility bills such as telephone, gas, ESB or evidence of rent allowance from the Health Service Executive. A landlord’s letter or a letter from a letting agency in isolation is not adequate evidence of independent residence.
I think all landlords have to be registered with PRTB.
Most of the students i know have got their grant letters back from Dublin city council as long as the forms had been filled in correctly.

bethm24

oh thanks for that, the problem is though is i have none of those documents . ! so it looks like people like me who cant go to college (due to not having all those things) means ill probably be joining the dole que for the year instead. i cant afford college without grant! it should not be so strict, if you live somewhere, you live somewhere, im in late twenties and my father has not provided for me in years and wont be doing so.A letter from landlord with other stuff should be sufficient . this country is in the gutters and they dont even help students get out of the gutters by giving them grants that they are entitled to (because they unfortunetely use shredders and did not know to get an ESB bill in there name last october, not everyone knows this!) , why were shredders invented if you are supposed to keep bills and all sorts from way back!!!! i like to shred things , so i have no evidence for october 2008 (at least nothing that will be accepted!)and not all landlords are registerd on those things, no landlord i have ever rented off has been registered, you just give them the rent. like im from a rural area, my landlord doesnt even know what that register thing is!!!he cant believe there is so much fuss over this. its very unfair.

But thank you for your advice and for taking the time to explain exactly what is required. i feel a bit like rediculious that i dont have any of these? but i just dont, its awful cause i am independant! but i dont have stuff to prove it to them from those times. :rolleyes:

Verbal_Kint

rang the council today when no letter arrived and they told me it would not be processed until next week...........!

the woman told me that it looks good and just needs someone to sign off on it, will see next week.

I just wonder if my independent status will not be awarded and if I will have to try and apply as dependent, cant see the folks liking having to have their finances gone over with a magnifying glass. I dont know what they got up to over the last year and if they will put me over the threashold for the grant...

anyway no news yet will let ye know for anyone whos in the same spot.

could you imagine having to take a year off college just to get your hands on an ESB bill...

arlone

Bethm24, lets hope the council havent passed the landlords name over to finance 'cos landlords can be prosecuted for not been registered. I think you said your Dad was poor, could you not move back home for the time being and get assessed under his income?

Lisaseoighe

OMG!!!!!!!!! Im broke! I need my grant nw!!!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

bethm24

Thanks for all the advice guys but cant move in with my dad in a zillion years.. its not an option. he is poor now, he wasnt last year!!!( he was rich during the famous october 2008!!!:D)I will need to live near the college anyway , i am a long ways away from the college of my chosen course. yes my life is very confusing....:rolleyes:. Im old enough now to live away from my father , he has his own life.....

Doubt they will pass landlord info on to the finances unless they are very evil people and id say they have better things to do with their time !!!:eek: Thousands of landlords are not registered in ireland,
I doubt at this stage that ill get the grant, i have accepted it, no ESB bill, no fun.......:mad: . silly really, cause alot of people fiddle with their accounts etc in order to get a grant (this is quite common as far as i am aware, i know families who did this kind of thing) and a poor sod like me who is telling the truth does not get a penny.its always the way it goes. madness......