Sir, – While Nathaniel Healy (July 15th) should be commended for his self-reliance in funding his own university education in the 1960s, changing circumstances indicate that this laudable achievement is not particularly replicable.
If full fees were reintroduced for all, removing all of the State subsidies Mr Healy regards as obstructing formative self-reliance, even at an average of the current fee level for EU and non-EU students, which could be as much as €13,000 per year, students funding themselves would be simply impossible. Given that a student is only likely to earn minimum wage for any employment they acquire, even if one were to work for 40 hours a week for six months, the resultant earnings of €9,516 are hardly sufficient to cover that cost.
This of course takes no account of tax, transport or living expenses.
The situation seems all the more pessimistic when one considers that the entitlement to minimum wage does not apply to those who do not have two years of experience working over the age of 18.
Whatever the possibility of a student’s self-sufficiency in the 1960s, paying for fees without a considerable State subsidy is all but impossible for the most dedicated of students.
If higher education is to be available to those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with greater financial and cultural barriers to overcome, how can we contemplate anything but some degree of State funding at the very least? – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER
McMAHON,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.