Irish students get the worst level of financial support in Europe, according to a recent EU survey. The Irish maintenance grant covers only one third of the true costs of going to college and only people from extremely low income families qualify, argues DCU's director of student services, Barry Kehoe. Students in other countries fare much better. In Germany, for example, tax relief is allowed and child benefit is paid on children in full time education up till the age of 27 years.
A major problem for Irish students hoping to go to third-level on a grant is the fact that, even after they have been offered a college place, they still don't know if they qualify for a grant. Students apply to local authorities or VECs for grants in July - six months after they apply for places through the CAO. You have to ask why the application date cannot be brought forward so that applicants know where they stand.
The tardiness of grant payments is a problem. It's quite common for money to be handed over to cash-starved students as late as December - three months after term has started. What messages are we sending out to those young people who do qualify for grants? To qualify for a full maintenance grant a student's family - with fewer than four dependent children - has to have an annual income of £18,308. How can such low-income families be expected to support their offspring during these early months?
This year for the first time PLC students will qualify for maintenance grants. It was back in April 1997 that Fianna Fail in its third-level position paper promised to introduce PLC maintenance grants. The following December Minister Micheal Martin told the Dail that grants for students "registered on PLC courses as of September 1998" were to be introduced "as soon as possible." It took until August this year to announce the deadline date for PLC grants applications - October 16th. But don't hold your breath. "It is expected that the grants will not issue to students until December/January," the Minister told the Dail.
There are currently two grant awarding bodies - local authorities and the VECs. In 1995, the report of the Advisory Committee on Third-Level Education Student Support recommended that the processing of grant applications and payment be transferred to a central office. In August 1997 a working group from the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs was set up to examine options. As a result, a further detailed review is to be undertaken and it's likely that the grant schemes will be transferred to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. But when?
