O’Keeffe hints students could pay college fees after graduation

COLLEGE students are likely to be expected to pay back the costs of their third-level education after graduating rather than their families paying fees up front, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe indicated yesterday.

However, school-leavers may have to wait until after this year’s Leaving Certificate exams before knowing how it might affect them as no Government decision is likely to be made until after the local and European elections on June 5 — two days after the state exams begin.

The minister said he will only make final proposals after Government colleagues have been given all options on possible student contributions. He will present those options in a report, which he has already finalised, to Cabinet ministers in the next fortnight.

“I don’t want to put an additional burden on people who can ill afford it, that will be my main objective. There are different mechanisms out there we can look at that may not have the same level of pain,” Mr O’Keeffe told reporters in Letterkenny.

While he has signalled since he opened the fees debate last summer that he would prefer to ask higher-earning families to pay for their children’s college education — with incomes of more than e100,000 or e130,000 mentioned at different stages — he could face strong opposition to such a move within the Cabinet.

The Green party and Fianna Fáil both passed motions opposing the reintroduction of fees at their party conferences.

Mr O’Keeffe’s comments point strongly at a form of deferred payment by students after they graduate.

However, other options would still have to be considered, such as whether the entire cost would have to be repaid, and whether it would be done through a general loans system or if graduates would pay the State through their taxes.

The minister has already made clear that no students already enrolled in third level would be expected to pay fees or loans if changes are approved by the Government, but that those who begin courses next autumn could be affected if and when any new scheme is introduced in September 2010.

Mr O’Keeffe also said yesterday that he is interested in a proposal to allow recently graduated secondary teachers to study masters programmes and teach classes on an apprenticeship basis rather than joining dole queues.

Professor Tom Collins, head of the education department at National University of Ireland Maynooth, has made the proposal as a way of accommodating some of the 1,000 higher diploma graduates who would otherwise have no work next autumn because of cuts in second-level staffing.

“He is an eminent educationalist and it’s my intention to speak with him on his proposal because I’m very receptive as minister to good ideas.

“I will sit down with him to see the detail and see what the merits are and what would be the implications for my department,” Mr O’Keeffe said.