Disadvantaged students at core of college fees plan

THE need to get more disadvantaged students going to college is what has prompted plans to consider a return to charging college fees, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has claimed.

Although he has indicated it could be up to 18 months before any such plans are put to Cabinet, he has already given his personal backing to imposing tuition fees for those who can afford them.

Since fees were abolished in the mid-1990s, the Government picks up the costs previously paid by those above certain incomes.

The aim was to get more students from less well-off backgrounds into higher education but, while the proportion of undergraduates from most lower income bracket families has improved, the minister believes more can be done.

“I started a national debate on fees because I’m very concerned about trying to widen the scope for more people from disadvantaged areas to have access to third level. I want to review the role of the access programme and how we can increase the numbers from disadvantaged areas participating in third level.

“Progress has been slow enough and I know it’s a very difficult issue, but I want to ask the university sector about their access programmes and see how well they co-ordinate those programmes with second level schools from disadvantaged areas,” he said.

Despite his concerns, an OECD report on international education statistics claimed this week that Ireland and Spain stand out as providing the most equitable access to higher education.

The minister has been criticised in recent weeks for demanding a 3% funding cut to the School Completion Programme, which helps disadvantaged schools to keep children from dropping out before the Leaving Certificate.

He has asked a number of experts to investigate the impacts and savings or revenues the Government could achieve by reintroducing fees, or from a loans system like that used in Australia, where the state pays each students’ tuition costs and they pay it back as they earn certain amounts.

But any return to fees will face strong opposition from the Union of Students in Ireland, who will protest against the plans at the Fianna Fáil think-in being held in Co Galway this weekend.

“The minister seems to think the way to improve our higher education system is to penalise those already struggling to deal with the financial burden of going to college. This would be a very short-sighted approach and we will not allow students and their families to be used as scapegoats for a decade of waste and underinvestment,” said USI president Shane Kelly.

Mr O’Keeffe is also seeking a value-for-money examination from the Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley on the €2 billion being invested annually by the state in third level education.