Cost of living: Students grapple with hard choices to make ends meet

The Republic’s rising cost of living has left students with “difficult choices” to make between prioritising studies and working full-time to pay rising bills and rents.

University College Dublin student Sadhbh Mac Lochlainn’s Dublin rent has not increased in recent times, but her weekly food shop has “noticeably gone up” as well as electricity and heating costs.

"I got four things in Lidl the other day and it was €9, which is expensive for Lidl. My electricity and heating have gone up a lot since Christmas. I'd sometimes have to make a choice between what I want to buy versus whether I want to heat my home," she said.

More expensive bills have meant that “it’s become a conscious decision when you heat your home” which, for Ms Mac Lochlainn, resulted in a “severe respiratory infection” in the winter.

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“There is no central heating in our house so we have plug-in heaters, which cost a bomb. These things mean as a student living in Dublin I have to work full-time in order to be able to study here and live here,” she said.

Many students’ studies were “taking a back seat” because they have to work full-time.

Ms Mac Lochlainn said she was “lucky” to be in part-time education, though this was because she worked full-time.

Lower incomes

Under measures agreed by the Coalition on Thursday night to tackle the soaring cost of living countrywide, the previously announced household energy credit of €100 was increased to €200.

For students and young people on lower incomes such a measure does not go far enough, said Ms Mac Lochlainn.

“Obviously, any extra money is good, but €200 isn’t going to go very far in the grand scheme of things. We want to see actual policies that get to the heart of this, like caps on rent,” she said.

Fees for third-level education are also an issue for many students, she said. At €3,000 per year, the Republic has the highest university fees in the European Union, which means “a lot of people have to choose between going straight to work or going into education because it costs so much”.

“If students can afford it, or get the Susi [Student Universal Support Ireland] grant, you’re still looking at exorbitant rents and expensive bills,” Ms Mac Lochlainn said. “A lot of students can’t afford a place or can’t even find one. It’s becoming untenable to become anyone who isn’t a tech bro in this city.”