Sir, - The latest rally of students from around the country reiterated the anger they feel over inadequate grants. A student living away from home will receive £49 a week for the college year, providing his parents have a combined income of less than £385 a week (£20,100 per year). This means that a student with both parents in employment, each earning £5 per hour - only slightly above the minimum wage - will not qualify for a grant.
This appalling state of affairs means that potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds simply cannot afford to continue their education. Benefits are offered to entice the unemployed back into third-level education, but not to entice the potentially unemployed to take it up in the first place.
Fine Gael, Labour, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and the Socialist Party have all committed their full support to the demands of the campaign. Several Fianna Fail backbenchers are also breaking ranks to lend the campaign their support.
Government revenue is higher than ever. The time has come to invest a small proportion of this wealth into student financial support. Such an investment would not only benefit individual students but would benefit the country economically. Wider access to college would result in a more highly skilled workforce that would create greater wealth and tax revenue for the country in future years.
This is a matter of wise economic investment. While we have this large Budget surplus, let us spend it on trying to extend our good fortunes. - Yours, etc.,
Keith Martin, Chairman, Waterford Institute of Technology Students' Union, College Street, Waterford.