More than 15,000 students are in arrears paying their annual student fees, according to figures from the university sector from the last three years.
Atlantic Technological University has the highest number of students who are in arrears paying their student fees, with more than 3,500 students owing the university money.
The majority of the arrears related to the university’s Sligo campus, where 2,484 students are recorded as owing fees, including nearly 1,500 students who have unpaid fees for online courses.
The figures for the number of students in arrears over the last three years were obtained in response to Freedom of Information Act requests to each university from the campaign group Students4Change.
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Some 2,985 students are in fee arrears at Technological University Dublin (TUD), with the highest number of students owing fees from the 2018/19 academic year.
A spokeswoman for TUD said the university was one of the largest in the country, with more than 30,000 students, “which may account for higher numbers of outstanding fees”.
“We also provide a number of options for students who may need extra time to pay fees, such as instalment plans. In addition, we have provided greater flexibility to students and their families financially affected by the pandemic,” she said.
University College Dublin has more than 2,000 students who were in arrears on payments of their student fees, with half that figure from the last academic year. The university also had 179 cases where students who had lived on campus accommodation owed rent.
The university allows students to carry up to €600 in fee debt over from one academic year to another, but students cannot graduate until all fees or fines are paid.
At present students pay an annual €3,000 student contribution charge, although international students or those studying courses such as medicine pay higher fees.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has said he wants to see the contribution charge reduced. It is understood reductions to the charge are being considered in the context of the upcoming budget next month.
Dublin City University said it had just 12 students who were in arrears paying back student fees, according to the figures.
Trinity College Dublin also had a comparatively low number of students in arrears, with 258 carrying unpaid fees over from last year, 15 students in arrears from the 2019/20 academic year, and 11 cases of students still in arrears from the year before that.
University College Cork disclosed it had 1,250 students facing fee arrears, with 501 of the cases of unpaid fees from the last academic year.
University of Limerick said it was owed unpaid fees from 1,758 students, while 1,176 students were in arrears over fees in National University of Ireland, Galway.
There were 699 students in arrears paying their fees in Maynooth University, as well as 1,192 cases of students not having paid their full fees in Technological University of the Shannon.
