Covering the cost of college living no easy task

The Government has sold students down the river, according the Union of Students of Ireland (USI), which last week symbolised its opposition to a 69 per cent increase in the student capitation fee by protesting on the River Liffey boardwalk. The USI says students will not have budgeted for the increase from €396 to €670.

The poorest students - 37 per cent of university students and 47 per cent of students in institutes of technology - will not be affected by the increase, as students who qualify for higher education grants also have the capitation fee paid by their local authority. But the income thresholds for the grant are considered quite low - the household income must be below €21,629 in a family with three children to qualify for the full grant.

The thrust of the USI campaign is to increase these income thresholds so that more students qualify for higher education grants, and to increase the amount of money given to social welfare levels.

"Social welfare is the minimum amount that the Government expects people to live on. It's ludicrous to say social welfare equals X, but you're a student so we're going to give you Y," says Mr Colm Jordan, USI president.

Even after the latest 5 per cent increase, the maximum maintenance grant stands at €2,510 a year. Over the course of nine months, this works out at less than €70 a week or €280 a month - not enough to cover rent in the Dublin area.

According to figures from Mr Barry Kehoe, director of student affairs at Dublin City University, the average cost of renting shared accommodation is €355, with the total monthly cost of living away from home approximately €812. These are estimates for the 2001/02 academic year, so this year's intake of students could find the cost of learning has increased.

"The cost of accommodation has been increasing year after year and the grant hasn't been increasing with it," says Mr Jordan.

Many students trying to make ends meet will be forced eventually into fitting in their full-time course around their part-time job instead of the other way round. On average, students work part-time for 17 to 20 hours a week, according to Mr Jordan, on top of 20 hours of course contact and 20 hours of researching and writing papers.

Some colleges will also provide either means-tested welfare funds or interest-free loans, which in some cases have to be paid back before the student can graduate. Not all students would be aware that a welfare fund exists, according to Mr Séamus Ó Maonaigh, welfare officer at UCD Students' Union, but the funds will nevertheless be heavily depleted over the first few months of the academic year.

"Many students would see the welfare fund as a last resort," he says. "Without it, they'd be forced to drop out of college."