UCD has received a number of requests from Irish students looking to gain entry onto high-point courses such as medicine by registering as non-EU students and paying fees of over €20,000 a year.
The move, which would mean they are effectively circumventing the CAO points process, could lead to charges that they are "buying their way" onto some of the State's most prestigious courses.
A spokeswoman for the college said it did not allow Irish students to take up places allocated to non-EU students, as it did not wish to see a situation where those Irish students who can afford to pay non-EU student fees were able to get onto its courses.
"The reality of the points for Irish students it that it is driven by a quota set by the HEA," she said. "This has led to an artificial inflation of the points requirements for students coming through the CAO.
"We would prefer to see a more realistic points level, not Irish students applying for non-EU student places."
This could be achieved through a lifting of the cap on the number of Irish students which UCD is able to offer places to, she added. Under the current system, the number of places for Irish students on UCD's medicine course is limited to 108.
However, around 130 more places on the much sought-after course are set aside for lucrative international students from outside the EU. These students pay fees of approximately €22,000 a year over a period of five to six years. This generates significant revenue for UCD and is thought to subsidise the cost of offering the course to Irish students.
But non-EU students are not required to obtain the equivalent number of CAO points as their Irish counterparts. Last year, a Leaving Certificate student looking to enter UCD's medicine course required at least 570 CAO points. By comparison, non-EU students are only strictly required to meet the college's minimum entry requirements for the course, although UCD claims only top-performing students from non-EU courses gain entry to its medicine course.