“Extortionate” rents and the €3,000 student contribution charge are among the main factors driving soaring college costs, the Union of Students in Ireland says.
New figures show students living away from home could face up to €14,000 in costs for the upcoming academic year.
Increasing rents and food prices are leading to a likely rise in living costs, according to the Technological University Dublin Student Cost of Living Guide.
The Irish Independent reports students moving to Dublin will need €1,539 a month - meaning total costs of €13,827 for the year.
That's gone up from just over €12,000 needed for the 2019-2020 academic year.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Clare Austick - President of the USI - says third-level education "should never be seen as a privilege".
She said the current annual costs facing students include "extortionate" rents, the student contribution charge of €3,000, and the general cost of living.
She said: "We would certainly be opposed to any sort of increase to the cost to attend college.
“Having additional costs on students this year, post COVID-19, is a huge concern for us, especially with students having lost part-time and full-time jobs.
“We want students to have the best, most meaningful college experience possible - and having financial hardship as an additional concern takes away from being able to engage fully in the college experience.”
Ms Austick also argued that current SUSI grant levels don’t accurately reflect the cost of living in Ireland.
“We have the same conversation every year"
Sinn Féin's Higher Education Spokesperson, Rose Conway-Walsh, told The Pat Kenny Show the soaring costs are not a surprise.
She said a room in dedicated student accommodation can now cost up to €1,000 a month.
She observed: “We have the same conversation every year. What we’re looking at particularly this year is the combination of the overall housing crisis and then the increases in student accommodation.
“Because we don’t have regulation around accommodation, we have some [student] rooms being built… but what we’ve seen is high-end, expensive accommodation done to attract the wealthy international students.
"That doesn’t do anything to ensure equality of access to third-level education.”
Deputy Conway-Walsh says many working families aren't entitled to any grants or financial assistance for college costs.
She said: "They may have more than one student going to college.
“I hear the most horrific stories about families and parents, what they’re trying to do just to put their students through college.
"The big concern is the lowest socio-economic groups are going to be excluded from their university or third-level [institution] of choice.”
The Sinn Féin TD said there has been "chronic” under-funding in third-level education since 2008, and recent increases in funding have not been enough.
She said her party is now urging the Government to implement "option one" of the Cassells report - full publicly-funded education.
The report - published in 2016 but only recently fully scrutinised by the EU - put forward three options for the future funding of higher education:
- a predominantly state-funded system
- increased state funding with continuing student fees
- increased state-funding with deferred payment of fees through "income contingent" student loans
Option one would include the current €3,000 student contribution being abolished.
Deputy Conway-Walsh suggested that option is "the only way forward".
Higher Education Simon Harris has pledged to make a decision on a new funding model, saying he believes years of "political cowardice" have hurt the country's higher education system.
