Ireland needs to overhaul its policies on third-level education and,rather than saving State finances, consider it as an investment in thecountry's future, writes Colm Jordan
Fees and loans are the two main options being touted by those seeking solutions to increasing the numbers of disadvantaged students attending college. We believe these options are designed to ensure savings to the Exchequer rather than to increase the numbers of students from the poorest families in society from attending college and are thus totally opposed to them.
With regards to a loans system, we can only hope that the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, has carefully studied the Australian model, which has proven to be flawed on every level, with 15-25 per cent of such Australians never finishing paying off their debt. Australians with these loan debts were less likely to buy houses, take out loans and have children because they were not willing to take on more debt. A move to such a system here would cause massive social problems.
Under equality laws, an interest-bearing loans system would discriminate against many students of the Islamic faith. Is this really the kind of message the Government wants to give out in these days of a multicultural Ireland?
Predictably, Mr Dempsey has bandied around the phrase "payable by those who can afford them" with regard to the fees option. Presumably he also believes that a grant of as little as €14 per week is enough for students to survive on. He also promised that the poorest students would be repaid the €670 registration fee, but many are still waiting for reimbursement.
According to the Union of Students in Ireland's (USI's) annual cost of college survey, general costs such as accommodation, food, materials etc amount to €6,000 per academic year.
When college fees of €5,000 are added to the €670 registration fee, the cost of going to college for one year is almost €12,000, or almost €50,000 for a four-year course. For specialist courses such as medicine, the cost will be significantly higher.
When putting food on the table and paying the mortgage takes up most of a family's income, education becomes a luxury. USI believes this would be the case for at least half of the country's families, especially when one considers the colossal costs involved.
We believe that a general review of our tax system is needed so that we can move towards a progressive tax system that focuses more on individual cases rather than tax brackets and broad generalisations. This would also benefit the State's failing health service.
We need to strive towards the Finnish system of student finance, where the student is assessed on their own income rather than on the income of their parents.
More importantly, there needs to be a paradigm shift in terms of thinking with regard to education. Every euro spent on education should be viewed as an investment in our information economy and, by extension, our country's future.
The amount of money spent on research and development in the country is pitiful, especially given the fact that that we have just left an era of unprecedented economic prosperity. USI is committed to progress in this area, and the machinery to allow real change is in place and ready to be used.
An action group on access to third-level education was established in September 2000 by the then Minister for Education and Science to advise the Department on the development of a framework to promote access to third-level education for mature and disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities.
The total costs incurred in the process and resulting report was €42,197.31 and the report had 78 recommendations. Only a few have been implemented, and even then only after much lobbying by USI. Worst of all, many of the recommendations have timeframes and several were due to be implemented two years ago.
Responsibility for our antiquated grants system should have been moved on to the Department of Social and Family Affairs by now, a key recommendation of the report.
We have to come to terms with the fact that there will always be some borderline cases, it is a matter of greatly reducing the number these instances.
The current grants system penalises any family where both parents are earning minimum wage or more, leading to a system of students taking on part time work, studies suffering and students dropping out, thus acting as a further disincentive to the parents and other children in the family.
Fees and grants will only serve to further polarise the "haves" and "have-nots" within Irish society. Mr Dempsey needs to look at viable solutions to a very real problem.
As students, we are demanding that the Minister stops trying to secure savings for the Exchequer and, rather, work towards ensuring an education system of excellence for all our citizens. We encourage all concerned parties to join us in tomorrow's protest.
Colm Jordan is president of the Union of Students in Ireland