‘Punch to the gut’: Students condemn potential €1,000 rise in third-level fees

The potential increase of €1,000 to third-level fees this year has left students feeling “disheartened” while their representative bodies across the country have warned that “struggles will only get worse”.

Students arriving to college in Dublin city centre on Tuesday morning noted feeling “tricked” after previous pledges to reduce college fees and an eventual abolishment rather than “going the opposite direction”.

The Irish Times reported on Tuesday morning that Minister for Higher Education James Lawless has signalled the €1,000 reduction to third-level fees could be reversed this year.

The €3,000 annual “student contribution” has been lowered to €2,000 for the past three years, meaning an effective fee increase for many students should the reduction be scrapped.

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Ailbhe Cryan, a second-year student at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), said her parents were “relieved” when her fees were reduced, adding the reduction made college costs “doable for a lot of families”.

“I feel we were filled with this false hope because it made us believe that it was long term,” she said.

Noting that Simon Harris pledged to abolish fees during last year’s general election, her friend Ellen O’Doherty said students will feel “tricked”.

“I was kind of optimistic but I think, in the back of my mind, I knew it was just a ploy to get people on their side,” she said.

“I don’t understand why you’d raise fees for students when a lot of students are working two jobs,” said Róisín Northcote, also a student at TCD.

“The cost of living is insane – it’s ridiculous here and nothing’s being done about it,” she said.

Students’ union presidents across the country, meanwhile, reacted angrily to the potential increase.

University College Cork’s Katie Halpin-Hill said the step-change “clearly contradicts” a commitment made in the programme for government to continue to reduce the student contribution fee over its lifetime.

Noting that students are cutting back on essentials due to the cost of living and going to lectures “hungry”, Ms Halpin-Hill said: “Talking about increasing fees at this point is totally and utterly unacceptable.”

University College Dublin’s Miranda Bauer, meanwhile, said it “would probably be the biggest education U-turn since Ruairí Quinn’s infamous pledge”. The former minister for education rowed back on a pre-2011 election promise to neither introduce student fees nor increase the contribution.

Describing it as a “retrograde step”, Ms Bauer said it would be short-sighted to make students and education in general “a sacrificial lamb”.

The potential rollback would be an “absolute punch to the gut for many students”, according to Faye Ní Dhomhnaill, president of the University of Galway students’ union.

“This is yet another divisive move by the Government, completely targeting lower-income students,” she said.

Describing it as a “slap in the face for students” DCUSU president Karl Ormsby said “even with the €1,000 reduction, students are still in desperate need of support”, adding that the union’s food bank is often oversubscribed.

“If fees rise, these struggles will only get worse,” he said.

Ronan Cahill, president of the University of Limerick students’ union, said the €1,000 reduction has been a “saving grace for an enormous amount of students” though many students are still “in the absolute financial pits”.

He said the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has been doing “Trojan work” advocating for the removal of contribution fees.

“It is disgraceful to see their efforts and the efforts of all students’ unions across the country fall on deaf ears,” he said.

The USI said it recently met Mr Lawless to discuss student fees and future cost-of-living supports.

“As this remains a work in progress, we have no further comment at this time. However, we will continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the interests of students are fully represented,” it said in a statement.