Third-level fees must be reduced to reflect reality - Rose Conway-Walsh TD
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation
and Science, Rose Conway-Walsh TD, has challenged the Government for expecting
students and their families to pay full fees for partial access to campus and
facilities.
Responding to statements made by the Minister for Education that third-level
colleges will be able to charge the full €3,000 in fees to students even if
campus access is severely restricted, Teachta Conway-Walsh said:
“Third-level fees must be reduced to reflect reality. The Government fails to
recognise the financial burden college fees place on students and their
families. We are already paying the highest fees in the EU.
“It shows how out of touch they are if they think students and their families
will be willing to pay the full amount if they only have partial access to
campus and all the facilities that entails.
“Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have underfunded universities
for over a decade. Third-level institutions are given 50 percent less funding
per student than in 2008. This has forced colleges to always charge
extortionate fees.
“The government knows this. For the Minister for Education to hide behind
third-level institutes and say they are responsible for setting their own fees
is disingenuous. The Government set fees when they set the upper limit.
“Third-level institutions need support. They have been forced to find
alternative sources of income from the private sector. Those sources of income
have vanished overnight with the outbreak of Covid-19. International fees alone
are estimated to go down by €181 million.
“The Ministers need to show leadership and address this issue as a matter of
urgency and stop leaving students and families to shoulder the burden of
funding our colleges.
“Sinn Féin’s recent online survey, ‘Telling the Real Story,’found
that 70% of students said their personal employment opportunities or
income have been impacted by Covid-19 and 56% of students said their household
income had reduced.
“People are struggling, and the government should begin
working to reduce fees immediately to give students a break. We should move to
a real publicly-funded third-level education system and the complete removal of
fees.”
ENDS