Almost half of first-year college students who have applied for a maintenance grant may not receive a payment before Christmas, the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC) has warned.

It is anticipated that around 33,000 of the 67,000 maintenance grant applications will be approved, but a change in the application system has led to a delay in processing the claims, the Irish Independent reports.

The system, known as SUSI, has been implemented by CDVEC to provide a centralised, online application system so that all applications are made to a single authority.

However, only 17,373 applications have been approved to date and only 11,404 of those applicants have received the payment.

CDVEC claim that as many as 2,000 students will receive payments today (December 21st), but that students need to make sure their bank details are registered to allow payments to be processed. They say that the details they are waiting for from students is causing the delay, but that they will be working full-time until Christmas Eve and again from December 27th to get applications processed before the new year.

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