Sir, – It is completely unsurprising that Susi grant applicants from one of the poorest, most isolated counties in the country would have a better chance of receiving a grant for third level education.
As a proud student of the University of Limerick I have to pay for my accommodation (which has gone up by 10 per cent in the last year), my fees, any transport to Limerick from Longford (always a long, expensive, and indirect journey), all of my food and supplies, and any extras such as doctor’s appointments or medication.
Unfortunately, I find it almost impossible to get work in either county as I would like to be able to return home to visit my ageing grandparents once or twice a month at the weekend. I also find that volunteering with student societies, studying in the library and relaxing are also valuable uses of my time. The point of university, surely, is to get the best degree one can achieve and to develop as a person.
Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a city where I can live at home, eat dinners made by my mother every evening and take only a short bus journey or Luas trip to the university down the road and work a job in the evenings, because, of course, in the capital city where the economy is booming, I would have the time and the ability to commit to that.
Unfortunately, I live in a county with shockingly high unemployment rates (twice the national average), seriously low income levels and, where in order to study a level 7 or 8 degree, one must leave the county and go somewhere else.
Of course, no one has forced me to go to university. However, I, like thousands of students from rural backgrounds, value my education. I want to do my best, to work hard, to achieve and to make myself and my family proud.
I want to make myself into the kind of graduate that companies want to hire.
So what if some students from Longford are lucky enough to receive grants? We need a little bit of luck.
– Yours, etc,
MUIREANN MURTAGH
Co Longford.