LIMERICK students who have faced skipping meals and sleeping in precarious situations to make ends meet made their voices heard in the Dáil in response to the government’s proposed student fee increase.
Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless said that “as things stand” third level students will have to pay €1,000 extra in fees this year compared to last year.
Mr Lawless said last year’s €1,000 reduction in undergraduate fees was part of a cost of living package which included other supports such as energy.
The Technological University of the Shannon Students’ Union (TUS SU) have launched their report ‘No Room For Learning: Accommodation and Cost of Living Report‘, warning that the proposed student fee increase will “devastate already struggling students and further entrench inequality in higher education”.
The report — based on a survey of over 14 per cent of the full-time student population across all TUS campuses — paints a stark picture of the student experience in Ireland’s Mid West and Midlands.
Students report skipping meals, working excessive hours, sleeping in overcrowded or precarious accommodation, and being pushed to the brink by rising rents and soaring living costs, according to the TUS SU.
Gearóid Folan, TUS SU deputy president, said that “students are being priced out of their futures”.
“The government’s decision to increase fees — while rent continues to climb and cost-of-living supports disappear — will push hundreds of students out of higher education. It’s shameful, it’s short-sighted, and it’s unforgivable.”
TUS SU took to the gates of Leinster House this week to have their voices heard, followed by a formal presentation in the Dáil AV Room, which included a Q&A session with TUS SU officers, representatives from Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ), and current TUS students.
Their asks to government include reversing the proposed fee hike, expanding SUSI and cost-of-living supports, a commitment to building affordable student accommodation, and establishing a TU borrowing framework, and to begin a roadmap to the full abolition of student fees.
