Degree changes - Students to bear brunt of college costs

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey seems to be on somewhat of a mission to introduce third-level fees in some shape or form.

The latest guise under which the controversial subject of third-level fees is being cloaked is the apparent abolition of the present degree system for medicine and other health disciplines, to be replaced by postgraduate courses.

Easing the pressure on students is a commendable aspiration, but this latest ploy would also considerably ease the financial burden on the Government by transferring it to the students and their families.

Currently, undergraduate fees in these disciplines are costing the Exchequer about €30 million annually, which represents a considerable slice of the cost of free fees every year.

The sleight of hand which would convert the degree system to a postgraduate one, would also transfer that financial burden onto the shoulders of the students and they would bear it every year.

The saving to the State by not having to pay those fees would be substantial, and Opposition parties are rightly opposed to such a move.

Yet, Mr Dempsey is stubbornly maintaining that the question of third-level fees still has to be ironed out and he has not ruled out the possibility that they might yet be re-introduced.

If the latest suggestion is any indication, then he is determined to do so in any fashion that occurs to him on the spur of the moment.