Almost two thousand first year third level students from Mayo are still waiting for their student grant applications to be processed.

The Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has confirmed that only 17.5 percent of the 2,354 grant applications from first year applicants in county Mayo have received a reply from the dept, which means over 82 percent of these students are still waiting for their applications to be processed.

Mayo Fianna Fail deputy Dara Calleary says it’s obvious that the new centralised system for first year college students , known as SUSI, is riddled with problems. He is now calling on Minister Ruairi Quinn to outline what’s being done to rectify the situation.

He told Midwest news today that the situation is critical for many students and their parents.