In their pre-budget submission, launched this morning outside Leinster House, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has called for a €500 minimum reduction in the student contribution charge, as well as a €140 million investment in higher education.
USI estimate that a €34 million government subsidy of higher education institutions would be necessary to achieve this reduction. In a press release, President of USI, Annie Hoey, said: “Hundreds of thousands of students and their families are extremely concerned about the ever-rising cost of third-level education.”
Ahead of the Budget, which will be announced on October 11th, she called on the government to “match talk of economic recovery with strategic investment in vital public services such as education”.
Repeating one of the main points of their submission last year, the union also calls for the reintroduction of postgraduate grants, which were abolished by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition in 2012. The reintroduction of postgraduate grants was recommended by the report, published in July, of the higher education funding working group. In August, Fianna Fáil also called for the reintroduction of the grants, describing their removal as “appallingly regressive”. USI estimate that the reinstatement of the grants would cost €53 million.
The submission also calls for the government to ringfence €5m for student counselling and support each year. In April USI, alongside Mental Health Reform, organised a protest at Leinster House in response to €12 million cut to the 2016 mental health budget, which was subsequently reversed.
The union also called for the government to reverse the cuts made to third-level grants in the 2011 and 2012 Budgets, as well as the phased restoration of the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) to the 2012 level of €11 million, after calling for an additional €1 million to be introduced into the fund last year.
Hoey expressed concern over the “affordability and quality of third-level education”, adding that the “current system will ensure a two-tier and underperforming system”.
In August, USI announced that it would return to holding its annual national demonstration for its national day of action, which will take place on October 19th. This demonstration, however, will take place after the Budget.
As well as the launch outside Leinster House, USI Vice-President for the Border, Midlands and Western Region, Michael Kerrigan, will hand-deliver a copy of the pre-budget submission to the Castlebar office of an Taoiseach, Enda Kenny’s. At the same time, USI Vice-President for the Southern Region, Niamh Murtagh, will also deliver a copy of the submission to the office of the leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, in Cork.
In July, the higher education funding working group, chaired by Peter Cassells, put forward three options for funding higher education – the abolition of the student contribution and the creation of a predominantly state-funded system, the continuation of the current student contribution charge coupled with increased state investment, and the introduction of an income-contingent loan system.
The report also called for an increase in higher education funding, including €5.5 billion investment in capital funding over next 15 years to address growing student numbers in third-level institutions and an extra €100 million investment to “deliver a more efficient system of student financial aid”.
